It may come badly from former colonial powers, but the fact is that China's operations in Africa in many cases are uncomfortably reminiscent of 19th and early 20th century colonial operations. In China's Silent Army: The Pioneers, Traders, Fixers and Workers Who Are Remaking the World in Beijing's Image , two Spanish journalists, Juan Pablo Cardenal and Heriberto Araújo, do a fairly heroic job of reporting on the Chinese presence around the world, asking repeatedly who benefits from China's activities. They interview Chinese traders and entrepreneurs at every level, as well as local employees of major Chinese corporations. What they observe is that Chinese companies, especially state-owned enterprises (SOEs), reproduce the same patterns of exploitation that are common in China. While the Chinese executive class is decently rewarded and lives comfortably, Chinese workers often suffer from familiar abuses, including exploitation and non-payment of wages; local workers complain of fourteen hour days, rotten food and wage rates far below local minimum standards, conditions that go some way to explain the persistent troubles that Chinese companies have experienced in, for instance, Zambia.

Other negative impacts include deforestation and over-fishing, the latter compounded by local corruption that threatens to log out supplies of hardwood in Mozambique and many other countries. China may not be responsible for local corruption, but too often Chinese operators benefit from and encourage it.

Donald Clarke:

Jeremy makes a strong case that China is already transforming Africa, and I'll take his word for it that Africa with China is a lot different from Africa without China. A more pointed question might be, will China's activities spur self-sustaining African development? That's harder to answer. Nobody has yet figured out the magic formula for development, but we know a lot of things that don't necessarily work: pouring money into a country, or having lots of people with an entrepreneurial spirit. Whether China's economic involvement will have different results from the economic involvement of other countries before it is still unknown.

I'm not too sure that deep-pocketed players with little interest in pushing an ideology are a good thing. Of course nobody likes those who "push an ideology" if it's put in those terms, but while it may be refreshing for African leaders to deal with a country that doesn't ask questions about corruption, human rights, or whether the money is just going to pay for more guns for the army and police, it doesn't necessarily follow that that's good for the country (i.e., everyone else there).

Jeremy Golkdorn:

Unfortunately for this debate, I have not drunk enough of the Africa-China Co-Prosperity Sphere KoolAid to provide a strong rebuttal to the points made by Isabel and Don. They both point to real risks to African countries from China's growing presence.