Beijing’s race for Africa

Simon Tisdall, The Guardian China will steal a march in the new race for Africa when it hosts an ambitious trade, investment and aid summit in Beijing this week for leaders of 48 African countries. But while the meeting is intended to fuel China's global drive for resources, raw materials and markets, concerns are growing that the boosters of Beijing do not have Africa's best interests at heart and that western countries will be cut out of future business.

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Delegates to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which opens on Friday, can expect full red-carpet treatment, except the preferred colour is green after Communist party chiefs reportedly ordered conference centre floors to be covered with grass. Large posters of giraffes and elephants are also on display to make an expected 2,500 visiting politicians, businessmen and journalists feel at home. Such witless gaucheries aside, the summit's focus will be on shaping the economic and political realities in favour of Asia's rising superpower. China's trade with Africa has risen fourfold in the past four years, and was worth $40bn (£21bn) last year. The target is $100bn by 2010. More...

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