Confronting some of the major criticisms of contemporary Sino-African ties(12)

Conclusion

China is offering a different style and tone of engagement with African states. The truth of China's integration and lessons it may equivocate are less mutually exclusive than many superficially envision. China's bilateral investment and trade with Africa should be seen as an enabler for African governments to further their own economies and develop their own brand of development ideology that builds on the current development discourse and empirical evidence.

Through varied means, China is transforming the contours of Africa's economic prognosis and development trajectory. China's influence on the continent has been profound. And China is going to continue to play a critical role in the continent's fortunes. An increasingly sophisticated Chinese superpower will undeniably continue to alter Africa's economic and development trajectory through its courtship.

China's presence in Africa has complex layers of global political and economic implications. China has been working to acquire the status of the leadership in the global south. In many meaningful ways, it has contributed toward the re-definition of Africa's place in the international political economy. The principle of self-determination resonates strongly.

To be sure, China is indeed averse to interfering with the sovereignty of African states, which contrasts with the nature of development assistance provided by the West. However, it is intellectually false to argue that a Beijing Consensus exists simply because China adheres to non-intervention. The myth that China is challenging the international system through both its internal performance and behaviour in Africa rests on a profound misunderstanding of both China and the West's policy towards Africa. China's rational and pragmatic approach to Africa with a priority on its own national economic interest is entirely aligned with the manner in which the West engages Africa, not in opposition to the Washington Consensus (He, 2007).

Rather than become either praise-singers or fear-mongers, the time has come for Africa to formulate a coherent plan for engaging China. It seems clear that Chinese engagements with Africa are informed by a set of clear and distinctive objectives (Hewitt, 2008). Africa needs to develop its own vision and strategy that use the fact that a future superpower is offering a historic opportunity to hop on board the growth train (Van der Wath et al., 2006).

Expounding intellectual effort to create an institutionally endorsed framework to ensure that Africa benefits from what is undeniably a sea change in attitude towards Africa has overwhelming positive prospects. Granted, the speed of China-African integration has caused some interesting imbalances and challenges. However, that is natural. The policy calculus must withdraw from ideological meandering and target pragmatic solutions, in which an institutionally enforced multilateral agenda punctuates this interesting time for the continent.