2 See Wissenbach, Uwe, ‘The Renaissance or the End of Geopolitics? Towards Trilateral Cooperation in Africa’, International Review (Summer 2008), pp. 83–97Google Scholar ; Bernt Berger and Uwe Wissenbach, ‘EU-China-Africa trilateral development cooperation: Common Challenges and new directions’, Discussion Paper, Bonn (2007), {http://www.ec-an.eu/files/bergerweissenbach_0.pdf}; Denis M. Tull, ‘China in Africa: European Perceptions and Response to the Chinese Challenge’, SAIS working paper in African Studies Program, The Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC, {http://www.china-europa-forum.net/bdfdoc-1562_zh.html}; Jonathan Holslag and Sara Van Hoeymissen (eds), ‘The Limits of Socialization: The Search for EU-China Cooperation Towards Security Challenges in Africa’, BICCS policy paper, Brussels (30 May 2010).

3 In February 1974, when meeting a foreign guest, Mao Zedong said, ‘America and the Soviet Union belong to the First World; Japan, Europe and Canada belong to the Second World; we belong to the Third World’. See Yixian, Xie, History of China's Diplomacy (from 1949–1979) (Zhengzhou: Henan Renmin Press 1988), pp. 443–452Google Scholar .

4 Anshan, Li, ‘Give the Right Name to China: China's Africa Strategy and Its National Image’, World Economy and Politics, 4 (2008), pp. 6–15Google Scholar .

5 Hongwu, Liu, ‘Contemporary Sino-African Relationship and the Revitalizing Asian and African Civilizations’, World Economy and Politics, 9 (2008), pp. 29–37Google Scholar .

6 Uwe Wissenbach, ‘The Renaissance or the End of Geopolitics? Towards Trilateral Cooperation in Africa’, p. 86.

7 ‘African Bank Shanghai Anniversary: Promote Mutual Benefit and Win-win’, {http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/i/jyjl/k/200705/20070504702076.html}.

8 Broadman, Harry G., Africa's Silk Road: China and India's New Economic Frontier (Washington DC: the World Bank, 2007)Google Scholar .

9 Ross, Robert S., ‘Engagement in US China Policy’, in Johnston, Alastair Iain and Ross, Robert S. (eds), Engaging China: The Management of an Emerging Power (London and New York: Routledge 1999), pp. 180–211Google Scholar .

10 Thomas J. Christensen and James Swan, ‘China in Africa: Implications for US Policy’, {http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2008/hrg080604a.html}.

11 Oil represents a highly politicalised international issue. To the oil-producing countries, it is an advantage but meanwhile it also constitutes an origin of disaster or curse. See Falola, Toyin and Genova, Ann, The Politics of the Global Oil Industry (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc., 2005), p. 3Google Scholar ; Parra, Francisco, Oil Politics: a Modern History of Petroleum (London: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2004), pp. 1–5Google Scholar .

12 Ross, Michael L., ‘The Political Economy of the Resource Curse’, World Politics (January 1999), pp. 297–322Google Scholar ; Robinson, James A., Torvik, Ragnar and Verdier, Thierry, ‘Political Foundations of the Resource Curse’, Journal of Development Economics, 79 (2006), pp. 447–468CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

13 President li Ruogu of the China Export and Import Bank has ever pointed out that the Western countries exclude China when formulating these rules while requires China to obey them in the international economic activities, which is unfair to China. See Ruogu, Li, ‘Distorted China-Africa Cooperation and the Refutation’, World Economics and Politics, 4 (2009), pp. 16–25Google Scholar .

14 Kiel, Ray, ‘Poverty Reduction Through Liberalisation? Neoliberalism and the Myth of Global Covergence’, Review of International Studies, 33 (2007), pp. 415–434CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; Tim Conway, Trade Liberalisation and Poverty Reduction, Overseas Development Institute, London (February 2004), {http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/2267.pdf}.

15 Mei, Hu and Hongwu, Liu, ‘Ideology First or Livelihood Improvement First? A Comparison between the “Democracy Aid to Africa” of the West and “Livelihood Aid to Africa” of China’, World Economy and Politics, 10 (2009), pp. 17–24Google Scholar .

16 Esedebe, P. Olisanwuche, Pan-Africanism: the Idea and Movement, 1776–1991 (Washington, DC: Howard University press, 1994), p. 18Google Scholar .

17 ‘The Africa-EU Strategic Partnership: A Joint Africa-EU Strategy’, Lisbon, Portugal (7–9 December 2007), p. 3, {http://www.africa-union.org/root/AU/Conferences/2007/December/eu-au/docs/joint_strategy_3_years_final_en.pdf}.

18 Uwe Wissenbach, ‘The Renaissance or the End of Geopolitics? Towards Trilateral Cooperation in Africa’, p. 85.

19 Baregu, Mwesiga, ‘Africa-China-EU: From the Perspective of Africa’, International Review (Summer 2008), p. 68Google Scholar .

20 Xiaoping, Liu, ‘Impacts of “Human Rights Orientation” in EU's Foreign Assistance on Africa’, Forum on Economy & Politics, 3 (2009), pp. 24–32Google Scholar ; Yongpeng, Zhang, ‘Comments on EU's Aid to Africa’, West Asia and Africa, 6 (2003), pp. 34–42Google Scholar .

21 Anshan, Li, ‘On the Adjustment and Transformation of China's Africa Policy’, West Asia and Africa, 8 (2006), pp. 11–20Google Scholar .

22 ‘China's African Policy’ issued in 2006 by the Chinese government elaborates, ‘The one-China principle is the political foundation for the establishment and development of China's relations with African countries and regional organizations. The Chinese Government appreciates the fact that the overwhelming majority of African countries abide by the one China principle, refuse to have official relations and contacts with Taiwan and support China's great cause of reunification. China stands ready to establish and develop state-to-state relations with countries that have not yet established diplomatic ties with China on the basis of the one China principle.’ See ‘China's African Policy’, People's Daily (13 January 2006)Google Scholar .

23 Professor Kenneth King once said that, in China's African Policy issued in 2006, China did not mention ‘poverty’ or ‘poverty alleviation’ and there was not even a clear expression of ‘foreign aid’ except the saying that ‘In light of its own financial capacity and economic situation, China will do its best to provide and gradually increase assistance to African nations with no political strings attached.’ See King, Kenneth, ‘The Partnership between China and Africa’, International Politics Quarterly, 4 (2006), p. 13Google Scholar .

24 ‘Wen Jiabao: Promote a New Type of Sino-African Strategic Partnership’, People's Daily (9 November 2009)Google Scholar .

25 Angola model refers to the resource-backed financing agreements signed between China and African countries. According to the agreement, the Chinese government provides mid-term or long-term loans for African countries to build infrastructure, social or industrial projects, the African countries concerned will provide China resources or products. Furthermore, in principle no less than 50 per cent of the contract's procurement in terms of equipments, materials, technology or services must come from China. Edinger, Hannah and Jansson, Johanna, ‘China's “Angola Model” comes to the DRC, the China Monitor, 34. pp. 5–10Google Scholar .

26 Davies, Martyn J., ‘China's Foreign Aid Policy toward Africa’, World Economy and Politics, 9 (2008), pp. 38–44Google Scholar .

27 Baregu, Mwesiga, ‘Africa-China-EU: From the Perspective of Africa’, International Review (Summer 2008), p. 72Google Scholar .

28 In recent years, the Chinese government responds to the critique of neo-colonialism in different occasions. It can be generalised in four points: the mainstream of Sino-African economic cooperation is good despite some problems; China's diplomacy with Africa is sincere and friendly and the negative activities of some individual enterprises have nothing to do with China's foreign policy; problems existing between the two sides are purely economic ones and can be solved; the African governments and scholars of insight hold positive comments on the Sino-African economic cooperation. See Jianbo, Luo, ‘The African NGOs and the Sino-African Relations’, Contemporary International Relations, 4, pp. 10–15Google Scholar .

29 Tunde Adelakun, ‘Is the influence of China growing in Nigeria’, {http://www.helium.com/items/439062-is-the-influence-of-china-growing-in-nigeria}.

30 The term Washington Consensus was initially coined in 1989 by John Williamson to describe a set of ten specific economic policy prescriptions that he considered should constitute the ‘standard’ reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, DC-based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the US Treasury Department. It includes the following recommendations: fiscal discipline; a redirection of public expenditure priorities toward fields offering both high economic returns and the potential to improve income distribution, such as primary health care, primary education, and infrastructure; tax reform (to lower marginal rates and broaden the tax base); interest rate liberalisation; a competitive exchange rate; trade liberalisation; liberalisation of inflows of foreign direct investment; privatisation; deregulation (to abolish barriers to entry and exit); secure property rights. See Williamson, John, ‘What Washington Means by policy reform’, in Latin American adjustment: How much has happened? (Institute for international economics, Washington, DC, 1990)Google Scholar ; Council on Hemispheric Affairs, the IMF and the Washington Consensus: A misunderstood and poorly implemented development strategy (19 July 2005), {http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wbimf/3493.html}.

31 Dongtao, Zou, ‘“Washington Consensus”, “Beijing Consensus” and the Special Path of China's Development’, in Keping, Yu (ed.), China Model and ‘China Consensus’: Transcend ‘Washington Consensus’ (zhongguo moshi yu ‘Beijing gongshi’: chaoyue ‘Huashengdun gongshi’) (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2006), pp. 409–434Google Scholar .

32 About the ‘Post-Washington Consensus’, please see World Bank, World Development Report: The State in a Changing World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 111Google Scholar .

33 Ramo, Joshua Cooper (ed.), The China Image: China in the Eyes of Foreign Scholars (Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2006), pp. 283–333Google Scholar . (Chinese version)

34 For instance, the Declaration of the Beijing Summit Of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Draft) issued by China and Africa in 2006 proclaimed ‘Increase exchange of views on governance and development to learn from each other, make common progress and enhance our respective capacity for self-development.’ See ‘Declaration of the Beijing Summit Of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation’, People's Daily (6 November 2006Google Scholar .

35 Anshan, Li, ‘Chinese Experiences in Development: Some Implications for Africa’, in Hongwu, Liu and Jiemian, Yang (eds), Fifty Years of Sino-African Cooperation: Background, Progress & Significance (Yunnan University Press, 2009), pp. 81–90Google Scholar .

36 ‘China is an Important Practitioner of Poverty Alleviation among the World’, People's Daily (2 September 2008)Google Scholar .

37 Mbeki, Thabo, ‘At the Heavenly Gate in Beijing Hope is Born’, ANC Today (10 November 2006)Google Scholar .

38 Wade, Abdoulaye, ‘Time for the West to Practice What it Preaches’, Financial Times (24 January 2008)Google Scholar .

39 Ramo, Joshua Cooper (ed.), The China Image: China in the Eyes of Foreign Scholars, pp. 283–333Google Scholar .

40 Leonard, Mark, ‘The Road Obscured: New Left or “Neo-Comm”?’, Financial Times (9 July 2005)Google Scholar ; also see Gill, Bates and Zhong Huang, Yan, ‘Sources and Limits of Chinese “Soft Power”’, Survival, 48:2 (2006), pp. 17–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

41 ‘Enhance Sino-African Cooperation and Improve Foreign Aid Efficiency’, People's Daily (9 February 2009)Google Scholar .

42 The missions are African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), UN Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS), UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). See ‘UN Peacekeeping’, {http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/currentops.shtml#africa}.

43 Xiao, Fang, ‘Sino-European Cooperation: Opportunities and Challenges’, International Review (Summer 2008), pp. 139–143Google Scholar .

44 Wendt, Alexander, Social Theory of International Politics (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005), pp. 1–58Google Scholar . (Chinese version)

45 On 13 March 2008, the Economist published an article titled ‘The New Colonialists’, pointing out that China was getting hungrier for commodities. But meanwhile, it also mentioned the positive changes of its foreign policy, especially its policy adjustment towards Darfur issue. The Economist print edition, ‘The New Colonialists’, The Economist (13 March 2008), {http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10853534}.

46 The American Council on Foreign Relations admitted, ‘Despite new investment from Asia, the US, the UK, and France still account for 70 per cent of foreign direct investment in Africa. US oil companies still lead in the offshore extraction technology critical to West Africa's growing energy production. The US continues to import substantially from African oil and gas producers, and the market is still controlled more by international supply and demand than by any individual country's manipulations.’ See The American Council on Foreign Relations, More than Humanitarianism: A Strategic US Approach toward Africa, Independent Task Force Report No. 56 (New York, 2006), p. 53.

47 Downs, Erica S., ‘The Fact and Fiction of Sino-African Energy Relations’, China Security, 3:3 (2007), pp. 43–47Google Scholar .

48 Spokeswoman Jiang Yu Holds the Regular Press Conference on 24 April 2008, {http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/xwfw/fyrth/t428635.htm}.

49 UK Department for International Development, ‘Cooperate with China to Realize the Millennium Development Goal in Africa’, {http://www.dfid.gov.uk/countries/asia/China/partners.asp}.

50 Fredrick Mutesa, ‘China's footprints in Zambia’, Paper presented at the meeting of ‘China's Footprint in Development Countries Research Sharing Workshop’, Hong Kong, YMCA International House (22–24 January).

51 Thomas J. Christensen and James Swan, ‘China in Africa: Implications for US Policy’, {http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2008/hrg080604a.html}.

52 Utley, Rachel, ‘“Not to do less but to do better…”: French military policy in Africa’, Internal Affairs, 78:1 (2002), pp. 129–146CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

53 ‘The National Security Strategy of the US of America’, {http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss/2006/nss2006.pdf}.

54 ‘The New Partnership for Africa's Development’, {http://www.nepad.org/2005/files/documents/inbrief.pdf}.

55 Jianbo, Luo and Hengkun, Jiang, ‘Settlement of Darfur Crisis and the Shaping of China's Image’, Foreign Affairs Review, 3 (2008), pp. 44–50Google Scholar ; Mohamed, Adam Al-Zein and Weddai, Al-Tayeb Ibrahim (eds), Perspectives on tribal conflicts in Sudan (Institute of Afro-Asian Studies: University of Khartoum 1998)Google Scholar .

56 For the past 50 years, China has assisted to construct 900 complete projects in Africa, trained 30,000 personnel for Africa and dispatched 17,000 medical workers to 43 African countries. See ‘Enhance Sino-African Cooperation and Improve Foreign Aid Efficiency’, People's Daily (9 February 2009)Google Scholar .

57 UK Department for International Development, ‘Cooperate with China to Realize the Millennium Development Goal in Africa’, {http://www.dfid.gov.uk/countries/asia/China/partners.asp}.

58 Commission of the European Communities, ‘The EU, Africa and China: Towards trilateral dialogue and cooperation’, {http://ec.europa.eu/development/icentre/repository/COMM_PDF_COM_2008_0654_F_COMMUNICATION_en.pdf}.

59 ‘The Final Statement of the Dialogue between Africa, China and the US of America’, West Asia and Africa, 1 (2008), pp. 63–65Google Scholar .

60 Some of the Chinese non-governmental organisations begin to become active in Africa. On 7–15 December 2009, China NGO Network for International Exchanges, China Family Planning Association, Beijing NGO Association for International Exchanges and Beijing Charity Association jointly carried out a training programme on prevention of HIV/AIDS in Harare, Zimbabwe together with Zimbabwe New Hope Foundation and Africa Medical-Volunteer Association.