How much aid does China give Africa? Does it complement or undermine the aid from the United States and other Western donors? China releases little information and outside estimates vary widely.

A novel approach to studying Chinese aid flows relies on a database drawing upon thousands of news reports on Chinese-backed projects in Africa from 2000 to 2011.

We, the co-authors, are not claiming that the database is fully comprehensive. We understand that some projects may not get picked up by the media.

Further analysis of the media reports of Chinese-backed projects may eventually yield insights into the extent Chinese assistance to the region is focused on natural resource extraction, and whether Chinese activities complement or compete with assistance from other donors.

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The assumptions and ideas that drive development policy are never static, but the rise of non-traditional donors and non-Western economic powers has accelerated the pace of change in recent years.

Many of the current trends in African development stem from East Asia. Dams, highways and other works of civil engineering are being built on a large scale and at a fast clip across the continent.

Some of this is due to the rapid influx of Chinese money and labour into these countries’ construction sectors but China’s own experience has had at least as much of an impact.

High-tech and technological solutions are making their way into every policy sector, but their influence is particularly noticeable in three areas: education, agriculture and political leaderships.

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The presence of China and Chinese in Africa has changed global and African realities. While elites have until recently mostly praised Chinese contracts, ordinary people have more often felt threatened in their livelihoods. Chinese compete with them in economic activities, in which Europeans have never been directly engaged.

The recent BRICS Summit in Durban was part of the new realities, though it was not welcomed by all. A broad local alliance of social movements mobilized against the Summit. The protest movement does not consider the new configuration of any benefit for the majority of the African people.

The call for responsible states in Africa to make use of the new economic opportunities provided by China and the other BRICS to promote social development at home offers space for a renewed partnership with the old friends in Europe. The Nordic countries can provide support to strengthen and increase African governments’ bargaining positions.

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In the post-war period, India led the fight for decolonization. Much of Africa followed suit a decade later. Thus, India’s struggle for emancipation was a major influence in Africa and the rest of Asia.

Africa and India watched with impatience the take-off by the Asian Tigers and of China while, in the case Sub-Saharan Africa, many countries were battling it out with structural adjustment conditionality.

Much has happened in Africa and India in the last 25 years. There is much to share here on what makes development happen, on dealing with inclusion, job creation, inequalities, and management of natural capital.

The global economy is now suffering from recession or weak growth. Additional growth can come largely from the emerging countries and Africa. Our challenge is to make that happen.

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The re-emergence of China as a world power with its increasing influence in many regions of the world has led to controversy. Chinese loans, China’s relationship with the ruling party, and illegal mining have become important issues in Ghana’s upcoming election.

In Ghana, arguably Africa’s most democratic nation, presidential elections are often very tight. China has become an important talking point in the ongoing hotly-contested presidential election campaign, with voting scheduled for December 7 .

The most heated issue involving China is illegal mining, with opposition politicians continually interrogating the sitting NDC government on the issue.

There is a perception that those who are supposed to be protecting the wellbeing of local Ghanaians cannot resist bribes from the Chinese, thus allowing illegal companies to practice surface mining at the expense of powerless villagers.

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China is often singled out as a food insecure country on a desperate hunt for land. With 20 per cent of the world’s population but only 7 per cent of the world’s arable land, China is supposed to be seeking to stabilize food supplies by obtaining land overseas, notably in Africa.

There is however little evidence for the conspiracy idea of a grand food security strategy directed from Beijing. There are rather few cases of land leases by the Chinese in Africa.

China’s policy seeks to promote investment overseas (ODI), but agriculture is still lagging behind other sectors in that regard. In 2011 only 3 per cent of ODI was directed towards agriculture.

Despite the grave arable land constraint, China manages to maintain a high degree of food self-sufficiency. China’s green revolution and expertise makes agriculture an interesting sector for sharing experience and know-how with other countries.

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When South Sudan became independent last year, the population had great expectations on the benefits of freedom. They are suffering from conflict, corruption, illiteracy, and lack of roads, schools, clinics and jobs.

These are all enormous obstacles for forming a new society with its own institutions. But most of Sudan’s oil deposits accrued to South Sudan at partition, which can be used to finance state expenditures.

The lasting armed conflict with Sudan has dominated the first year of independence. No oil has been produced since January. Now the two governments have reached agreement to restart production and exports.

In the short run, the oil stoppage has created turmoil. But perhaps this will make South Sudan recognize its vulnerability and seriously embark on diversification, taking advantage of its vast fertile but idle lands.

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The subject of transnational land acquisitions, infamously referred to as land grabbing, has increasingly become an important policy concern in Africa as acquisitions have grown in scale and number.

Is this another case of corrupt African leaders selling their citizens short or simply governments pursuing an economic development opportunity?

Potential benefits for host countries are very plausible, and hopes of job creation, infrastructure development and increased productivity are immensely important to a developing Africa.

However, the land policies of individual African countries should account for the important subject of transnational land use and serve to protect the rights of land users and small holder farmers.

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African industries have in recent years faced cut-throat competition from the Chinese manufacturing machine. China’s labour-intensive industrial competitiveness is, however, now on the wane.

The relocation of Chinese low-end manufacturing to lower-cost countries is inevitable. This will create enormous opportunities for low income economies with nascent manufacturing sectors.

Africa did not lay the foundations for industrialisation that Asia did before. The ‘latecomer challenge’ now lies in building infrastructure, institutions and skills base to attract the investment.

The upcoming shift in China’s manufacturing sector may benefit African industrialisation. Africa’s relationship with China is no longer just about attracting state capital but also now private investment.

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China’s engagement in Africa is sometimes wrongly perceived as a new form of ‘colonialism’ in the African continent.

The driving force of China’s engagement in Africa and in the Maghreb region was ideological anti-imperialism. Today, China is promoting more pragmatic relations with Maghreb and other African regions.

China’s African Policy aims to enhance cooperation with Africa based on five principles of peaceful co-existence: mutual respect, mutual non-aggression, non-interference, partnership equality, and mutually beneficial co-operation.

Today, China and Maghreb countries are facing some challenges to enhance further cooperation in the political and economic levels due to the changing global situation in general and the Maghreb internal changes in particular.

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