During a trip to Nigeria last February, Britain's then foreign secretary, Jack Straw, remarked that what China was doing in Africa now was much the same as Britain had done 150 years before. Like Straw, some Western scholars and politicians maintain that China is a new colonizing power, exploiting Africa's natural resources and harming its quest for democracy and human rights.
After World War II, de-colonization movements blossomed in Africa and Asia, which finally overthrew and buried the colonial system. Unfortunately, a new colonialism paradigm subsequently emerged and quickly grew in 1960s as some Western nations became new colonizing powers through capital investments and high-tech production.
This neo-colonialism embraces all aspects of classic colonialism except for occupying foreign lands, since all states in Africa remain technically independent. In this neo-colonialism, the exploiting power controls weaker states' economic resources and political systems and exploits their wealth under name of liberal capitalism.
So where does China fall? Is it a colonizing power or not when it engages Africa, especially as more and more Chinese began to arrive on the continent from the beginning of the 21st century?
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Moreover, China hasn't used deceitful means to steal and exploit African resources. Relations between China and African countries are grounded on reciprocal benefits, which is not just a slogan but a fact. Financial aid and other investments from China without political conditions are very helpful for African economies. For instance in 2005, the rate of China's contribution to Africa's total economic growth was at least 5%. Simultaneously, China buys African resources at a fair price to fuel its rapid economic growth.
Though China is not a colonialist, it is a successful capitalist in Africa. The path it has taken on that continent is consistent with the logic of market capitalism - liberal trade based on fair contracts.
