Nearly six centuries after Zheng He first reached the Horn of Africa, China once again turns its attentions to the African continent. Leaders of 48 of the 53 African countries, including 40 heads of state, plan to arrive this weekend for perhaps the biggest diplomatic event China has ever organized.
The official purpose of the three-day China-Africa Forum is to expand trade, allow China to secure the oil and ore it needs for its booming economy, and help African nations improve roads, railroads and schools.
The unofficial purpose is to redraw the world’s strategic map, forming tighter political ties between China, now the fastest-growing major economy, and a continent whose leaders often complain of being neglected by the United States and Europe.
This is of course not the first time in recent memory China has courted African leaders. During the Cold War, China would frequently reach out to Socialist states (shaky though they were) and the bidding wars between the PRC and the ROC for UN votes too often focused on cash-poor African nations.
This time though, the Chinese want trade and commerce. They want raw materials. And they’re not particularly finicky about with whom they do business.