China's economic expansion in Africa increasingly is accompanied by strategies for extracting much-needed raw materials to fuel the Asian giant's growth, according to a panel of trade and African experts. But the West still holds an advantage for equity or stock ownership deals in Africa, they concluded. After decades of building stadiums for dictators and providing the occasional railway line and paved motorway to African countries in return for supporting some policies, China's interest in Africa is now almost purely economic, a panel of Africanists and trade experts concluded at a November 1 forum sponsored by the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
Related Links:
* China comes to stay

* Western leaders monitor China-Africa summit