According to today's ' 'Süddeutsche Zeitung' the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, is in the process of visiting Africa for a week; it is his fourth visit to the continent since he took office in 2003. What is interesting is the fact that he will be visiting neither the Sudan, Chad, Angola or Nigeria, countries that are important to China because of their oil, nor those countries that are rich in raw materials, such as the DRC an Guinea, but rather he will be visiting Mali, Senegal Tansania and Mauritius. It is a visit to show that China is interested in more than just raw materials.(1)
Now, we might doubt the altruistic nature of China's motives in Africa. Nevertheless, we should not expect the Africans to be quite as sceptical of China as the mainstream media here would possibly like them to be. When compared to the rape and plunder perpetrate under the guise of "democracy" by the West and its minions, the Chinese record in Africa is astoundingly good, and for the time being at least, the countries south of the Sahara are being offered more than just the "better of two evils". However behind the scenes "Uncle Sam" and his cronies are, no doubt, already making every effort to ensure that they will not be given that choice.
1 'Süddeutsche Zeitung', p8, February 10, 2009
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