Context
Report indicates that China is setting in motion another top-level visit to Africa. Top Chinese political adviser Jia Qinglin will address the opening session of the annual African Union and attend the ceremony of inauguration of the new headquarters. Economic and trade cooperation is the main focus of their overall bilateral relations. During 2011, China and Africa trade volume reached 122.2 billion U.S Dollars.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said that China’s energy cooperation should be fairly and objectively evaluated as it fully adheres to international practices and has substantially improved the African countries’ social and economic development. He added that energy cooperation is neither the sole-content nor the starting point of China’s policy toward Africa. China is providing much-needed assistance to many impoverished African countries, using its own physical and intellectual resources. It has also trained indigenous workforce. China is paving way for Africa’s modernization, which is simultaneously boosting China’s manufacturing and construction industry. However, some brand China’s engagement in Africa as neocolonialism and call its engagement a design for snatching its resources.
