China Woos Africa — And Not Just For Its Resources

Paulo Woods

Workers at Imboulou Dam, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The 120-megawatt power plant is funded by the China National Mechanical and Equipment Corporation.

On Oct. 20, China announced, almost casually, that it was canceling 150 items of maturing government debt owed to it by 32 African countries. The announcement came a few days before a meeting between China's top legislator Wu Bangguo and Kenneth Marende, the Speaker of Kenya's National Assembly, to discuss cooperation between the two countries. Further, on Nov. 8, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was to attend the opening ceremony of the 4th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Top-level meetings between China's leaders...

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