Mutual benefit

"There are areas, of course, where there might be competition, but there is also a desire to identify areas for cooperation, but unfortunately that hasn't got much attention."

There can be no greater symbol of the relationship between China and Africa than the $124 million African Union Headquarters, which was not only built by Chinese workers but gifted to the people of Africa.

Some have criticized the gesture as a demonstration of the power that China now wields across the continent and have said it should have been built with African money.

Meles Zenawi, prime minister of Ethiopia before his death in August, told China Daily that there would have been a negative reaction to Africans spending money in this way.

"I am sure if we had done that we would have been accused of going after 'white elephant' projects. When it comes to certain quarters in Africa, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't," he said.

"The fact of the matter is that it was the Africans who asked the Chinese to build this conference hall for Africa. It is not the Chinese who offered to build it. We asked them to build it and they agreed and they have delivered, and we have no reason to criticize this.

"When the Chinese companies came in and started building infrastructure in a big way they were filling this major gap in the development of Africa. We, in Africa, should feel very satisfied with it."

Kojo Amoo-Gottfried, a 78-year-old veteran diplomat who first visited China in 1959, says the bond between China and Africa goes beyond economic ties.

"We have been colonized, and they themselves have been semi-colonized so we have been through similar experiences and it is easy for us to deal with each other on that basis," he says.

Amoo-Gottfried, Ghana's ambassador to China in the 1990s and now president of the Ghana China Friendship Association, feels China offers a great role model for Africa in terms of showing what can be achieved with a commitment to develop.