A golden child in Zuma's family

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Africa is a crucible for the commercial and sometimes ideological rivalries of China and the West. The West is losing on both counts. Last month, African Union economic chief Maxwell Mkwezalamba lambasted the West’s sluggish delivery. ‘They tell you that you are going to get $100 mn. today but you don’t get the $100 mn. until maybe after two years.’ Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni says: ‘[The West has] mismanaged it by making lectures. The Chinese are clever, they know how to deal with sensitive issues of African countries.’ Yet all sides argue over loans and ethics. Western states recently suspended aid to Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia over corruption and oppositionists in Congo-Kinshasa and Namibia call for disclosure on the millions that have gone missing from big Chinese projects in their countries. An Africa expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, He Wenping, argues that the African public (outside civil society and the press) is pro-Chinese but asks: How far can China go in Africa? Issues such as the import of Chinese labour and the inability of African manufacturers to compete with China test the limits of cooperation, she says. A true academic, she calls for a new China/Africa think tank to address the challenges.