In 1998, Chinas aid to Africa was $107 million. By 2004, it had reached $2.7 billion, 26% of its international assistance that year. In 2005, Africa-China trade reached $40 billion, 35% up from the previous year. The continent supplies 30% of China's import of oil and gas. The appetite for raw materials goes beyond oil and gas and China's foreign political strategy is a global one. Will Africa be a pawn or a player in this emerging geopolitical game? Will China's deepening relations with the continent represent a new opportunity for African countries to negotiate a new partnership and skilfully use it to the best advantage of their citizens? These are some of the questions contributors to the volume examine. 208pp, UK. ADONIS & ABBEY.

Almost every African country today bears the stamp of China's emerging presence, from oil fields in the east and west, to farms in the south, to mines in the centre of the continent. China has cultural agreements with 42 African countries. US$30 billion will change between Chinese and African hands this year. And China's trade and economic assistance to Africa has grown by geometric proportions. The contributors to this book - including Horace Campbell, Michelle Chan-Fishel, Daniel Large, Stephen Marks and Kwesi Kwaa Prah - present African social, historical and cross-continental perspectives on Chinese involvement in Africa in a unique collection of essays. 174pp, UK. FAHAMU & SOLIDARITY FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS.

China and India's new-found interest in trade and investment with Africa - home to 300 million of the globe's poorest people and the world's most formidable development challenge - presents a significant opportunity for growth and integration of the Sub-Saharan continent into the global economy. This book argues that China and India's South-South commerce with Africa is about far more than natural resources, opening the way for Africa to become a processor of commodi-ties and a competitive supplier of goods and services to these countries - a major departure from its long established relations with the North. 256pp, USA. WORLD BANK PUBLICATIONS.

China's growing engagement with Africa has major implications for both sides, and has added an important strategic context to South--South co-operation. This volume examine this dynamic which takes on added meaning because of the new Sino-South African axis. It argues that Sino-African relations have a long historical pedigree, and that even the vagaries of the Cold War did not suppress continued Chinese support for African nationalist movements. In the current setting, an emerging discourse warns that China's engagement with Africa is driven by its need for raw materials, which could presage a new 'resource imperialism'. However, the authors argue, this view ignores the firm normative framework underpinning China's relationship with Africa, and conclude that, provided this relationship is properly managed, it will greatly benefit both parties as well as other developing countries of the global South. Col photos, 264pp, SOUTH AFRICA. INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL DIALOGUE.

The contributions to this compilation add in various ways to the ongoing discussion on China's role in Africa. Contents: Henning Melber - The (not so) New Kid on the Block: China and the scramble for Africa's resources: An introductory overview; Ian Taylor - Unpacking China's Resource Diplomacy in Africa; Margaret C. Lee - Uganda and China: Unleashing the power of the dragon; Sanusha Naidu - China-African Relations in the 21st Century: A win-win relationship. 46pp, SWEDEN. NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE.

With China's rise to the status of world power, trade and political links between Africa and China have been escalating at an astonishing rate. Sino-African relations are set to become an increasingly significant feature of world politics as China's hunger for energy resources grows and many African countries seek a partner that, unlike the West, does not worry about democracy and transparency, or impose political conditions on economic relations. 256pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.

China's rapid rise to global prominence has become the cause of much debate, reflection, and concern. This topic is especially relevant and of profound consequence to Africa, given China's considerable and growing presence on the continent and the similarities and differences in circumstances and development trajectories between it and African countries. Central to the debate is whether China's earlier support for independence struggles and development initiatives in Africa is giving way to a more exploitative and self-serving relationship, character-ised by resource imperialism and a disregard for accountable governance and human rights. 287pp, SOUTH AFRICA. INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL DIALOGUE.

Nowhere in the world is China's rapid rise to power more evident than in Africa. From multi-billion dollar investments in oil and minerals to the influx of thousands of merchants, labourers and cheap consumer goods, China's economic and political reach is redefining Africa's traditional ties with the international community. This book investigates the emerging relationship between China and Africa to determine whether this engagement will be that of a development partner, economic competitor or new hegemon. Alden argues that in order to understand Chinese involvement on the continent, we need to recognize the range of economic, diplomatic and security rationales behind Beijing's Africa policy as well as the response of African elites to China's entreaties. Index, notes, 157pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

24 contributors argue that the geopolitical landscape of contemporary China-Africa relations has provoked wide media interest. After being conspicuously overlooked during the G8's purported `Year of Africa', the topic generated wider debate in the build-up to the China-Africa Summit in Beijing in 2006. Despite this, China's deepening re-engagement with the African continent has been relatively neglected in academic and development policy circles. In particular, the concrete ways in which different Chinese actors are operating in different parts of Africa, their political dynamics and implications for African development as well as Western views of this phenome-non, have yet be explored in depth. Taking its cue from the widely touted 'Chinese Scramble for Africa' and the accompanying claim of a 'new Chinese imperialism', this book moves beyond narrow media-driven concerns to offer a far-ranging survey of China's return to Africa, examin-ing what this new relationship holds for diplomacy, trade and development. Index, 382pp, UK. HURST.

China's global expansion is much talked about, but usually from the viewpoint of the West. This collection of essays, written by scholars and activists from China and the global South, provides diverse views on the challenges faced by Africa, Latin America and Asia as a result of China's rise as a significant global economic power. They argue that Chinese aid, trade and investments, driven by the needs of its own economy, present both threats and opportunities for the South, requiring a nuanced analysis that goes beyond simplistic caricatures of good and evil. Contributors include Dorothy-Grace Guerrero, Walden Bello, Luk Tak Chuen, Shalmali Guttal, Yu Xiaogang, Ding Pin, Xu Weizhong, Dot Keet, Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong, Lucy Corkin, Ali Askouri, Yuza Maw Htoon, Khin Zaw Win, Alexandre de Freitas Barbosa, Fu Tao and Peter Bosshard. 258pp, UK. FAHAMU.

South Africa and its partners in the Southern African Customs Union, SACU (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland) are considering negotiating a free trade agreement with China. Given China's growing economic power, this initiative has far-reaching implications which have to be carefully weighed. This book represents the outcomes of a conference at which researchers, policymakers, and business representatives considered China's meteoric economic rise and what this portends for revised trade relations between that country and SACU. It brings together all the papers delivered at the conference, as well as an authoritative analysis of China's growing consumption of global resources. Tables, charts, 220pp, SOUTH AFRICA. SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS.

This Institute for Public Policy Research collection of essays addresses different aspects of China's relations with Africa, including the history and politics of the relationship, as well as China's impact on trade and investment, the management of natural resources, human rights and good governance, and peace and security. Tables, charts, 72pp, UK. IPPR.

2006 1860303021 Paperback

The continuing expansion of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong (Greater China) has diplomatic, investment, trade and business implications for Africa. Two of the six chapters are South Africa specific. Acronyms, endnotes, tables, figs, ix, 67pp, SOUTH AFRICA. SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS.