ABSTRACT
The rapid development of the China–Africa relationship has been attracting much global attention. However, various misreadings and misunderstandings exist in much of the literature including for example that, ‘China is a newcomer in Africa’; ‘China only cares about trade or economic interests in Africa’; ‘China supports rogue states in Africa’; ‘China does not respect labor, environmental, and other social standards in Africa’; and so on (Cargill, 2008; Michel and Beuret, 2009; Southall and Melber, 2009).To be frank, all these misreadings and misunderstandings are partly correct and partly wrong. There is a lack of comprehensive and objective description of China–Africa relations due to their complexity as well as to the different perspectives and concerns that observers may have. The core goal of this chapter is to give a concise and comprehensive view of China–Africa relations, with a fresh explanation of their evolution and a more detailed exploration of their complexity and portrayal by third-party observers. Finally, some thoughts are offered about the future development of these ties.
