China in Africa: curse or blessing?

China brings asphalt roads, football stadiums and broadband Internet to Africa. At the same time it extracts large quantities of oil and other raw materials. China is now Africa's biggest trading partner and hopes to increase the volume of trade to $400 billion (303 billion euros) by 2020. Critics fear there can be only one winner in this partnership: China.

Sino-African cooperation began in the 1950s and 60s. As a demonstration of socialist ties, China financed the construction of a railway line for the transportation of copper ore from Zambia to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania's biggest city. The project was meant to demonstrate inter-ethnic friendship and workers' solidarity. The line is still used today.

With its "Go Global Strategy" in the 1990s, China changed its policy towards Africa. The regime began to encourage companies in China to make deals with African partners. The goal was to secure strategically important reserves of raw materials and push forward China's own economic development. The focus was now clearly on Africa as a business partner and consumer of Chinese goods.

With its new policy, China secured oil fields and precious metal mines in Africa. Along the way it did not spurn cooperation with authoritarian and corrupt regimes. This did not go down well in Europe and the US. China was only interested in exploiting natural resources but not in the welfare of the people of Africa, critics said.

China also did business with Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide. China became the most important investor in the Sudanese oil industry and also financed the construction of the Merowe dam in Sudan, the largest in Africa.

China is willing to pay for its good relations with Africa. In 2012 it paid for the construction of the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa. At the opening ceremony the head of the Chinese delegation said China would support the states of Africa in expanding their strength and independence.

Two Chinese companies dominate the African telecommunications market: ZTE and Huawei. Governments across the continent do business with them. In Ethiopia Huawei und ZTE are setting up a countrywide 3G network for $1.7 billion (1.3 billion euros). In Tanzania Chinese companies laid some 10,000 kilometres (6,213 miles) of glass fiber cables.

Not only large firms but also thousands of ordinary Chinese go to Africa in the hope of improving their income. They open small businesses where they sell cheap Chinese goods: crockery, fashion jewelry, electronics. "Many African traders are not happy with the new competition," says Kenyan economic scientist David Owiro.

Whether it's small business or road building, "the Africans barely profit from the Chinese involvement. Firms bring their own workers with them," Owiro says. That could change in South Africa where China has just built an assembly plant for trucks. The South African government has praised the project as a milestone on the way to African industrialization and speaks of numerous jobs being created.

While visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn im May 2014, China's premier Li Keqiang announced China would provide two billion US dollars for an African Development Fund. The Chinese leadership wants to put Sino-African relations in a new light: away from raw materials exploitation and towards sustainable development aid.

"China is worried about its reputation in the world", says Yun Sun from the US think tank Brookings. Media criticism that China was only interested in Africa's raw materials had led to this change. The Beijing government has recently published a list of its aid programs. They include 30 hospitals, 150 schools, 105 regenerative energy and water projects.

China has launched a major media offensive to win support for its mission in Africa. Reporting by state-run external broadcasting media has a clear business focus. Africa is presented as a prospering continent. Against the background of decades-long negative reporting by Western media, this is welcomed by many Africans. Hilke Fischer / sh