This posting made me recall a recent conversation I had with a mid-level Chinese diplomat here in London. We had a frank discussion after an international relations lecture and I asked him whether China viewed the U.S. as an opportunity or a threat. He told me very clearly that the U.S. is an opportunity and the two countries benefit most from cooperation. He also said China's goals are not nearly as different or threatening as many think. Like any other country, it wants to be secure and it wants its economy to grow. Its path to these goals simply has a different origin.

At the risk of sounding naive, this did not seem so outrageous to me. It also made me wonder what our policies might look like if more policy makers approached China from a viewpoint that was less adversarial. Such balance does seem to be reflected in State Department thinking but less so in broader media and political forums.

That said, the lecture we both attended addressed whether traditional realist IR theories of power relations still applied in the context of a world with a single superpower. The majority of people there seemed to think that power still remained any nation's ultimate aspiration. Even if such notions continue to dominate, it still strikes me as useful to listen and consider otherwise.

All very good points. Wherever I go, I hear pretty much the same thing: most non-Chinese say that the only thing to fear about the "rise of China" is the American response to it. They are concerned about the moves Washington is making, not Beijing. But really the influence on Africa has been a Chinese Communist Party effort since the early 1960s if not before. Yes it has to do with old fashioned nation state coalition building, and about Africa's resources, but also Africa's economic potential - something largely ignored in the West. Africans may not just be future consumers of China's production but also producers of it. Some day in the future Chinese capital may relocate to Africa and find that African factory workers make a fraction of those in China.

"Where the bulk of the population cannot read, true democracy is impossible." -- Bertrand Russell

"trade credit is not a win-win if the debt goes bad"

Sort of. A wise lender NEVER wants to collect a debt, just the interest. But, that Treasury debt could go bad. Which is why China should be looking to diversify it's investment portfolio. I doubt they will actually invest in something like consumer loans for door knobs per se, but rather in infrastructure and institutional changes which will lead to increased consumption of such articles of manufacture. Just because Americans have given lip service to those kinds of investments while exploiting extractive assets from countries does not necessarily mean the Chinese will.

Gaining advantage or monopoly as a nation's (or region's) source of manufactured goods consumption can be far more important than gaining advantage to it's natural resources. Over a 300 year average Spain never controlled more than 15% of South America's commerce though it had a near monopoly on gold and silver extraction. England controlled 28% and the Dutch 37%. For example, in Brazil it was illegal to possess nails not made in Liverpool England for more than 20 years, the penalty, conscription into the army or slavery on a British owned sugar plantation. That was one of the ways England collected the interest on it's loan to finance Emperor Pedro II's genocidal Paraguayan War. Another example, insurance in Brazil was the monopoly of a particular insurance company in London for 40 years. The British made back 4 times that original war loan on that practice alone.

That's not to say that China's not looking for resources in a shrinking world. 50% of African land has ideal climate and soil for growing the jatropha plant, the most efficient source of biodiesel (1:10 BTU conversion rates). 12% of that land could produce 100% of what the U.S. now imports, 2% could outproduce Alaska's north slope. This is a mature technology, Indian Railways uses it to power locomotives. U.S. and Chinese climate prohibit commercial development of jatropha, but refineries are springing up all over Africa: Mozambique, South Africa, Egypt, etc. The corporate plantation methods to exploit this opportunity has no advantage over small independent farmers. Small independent farmers with income translates into consumption of, oh, maybe, keyed entry way door knobs.

In case you you and your readers are interested in what Africans think about the recent China-Africa Summit, may I suggest that you visit Chippla's Weblog and read the Nov 4th post titled "China-Africa Summit". Here is the URL to that post by one of Africa's leading blog authors:
http://chippla.blogspot.com/2006/11/china-africa-summit.html

I have also written on the subject and have provided links to other Africa blog authors (people who write extensively about African news and issues) in my Nov 4th post titled "Beijing: The China-Africa Summit, Africa bloggers weigh-in". You can find my blog by doing a Google search for "Jewels in the Jungle" and find other Africa bloggers writing on the subject by doing a Google news search for China+Africa+Summit (click on the blogs button at the bottom of the search page). As you will note your post appears on Page 1 right alongside our own.

Harvard University's Global Voices Online is a great resource to learn what international blog authors are saying about the summit, including Chinese bloggers. One of Global Voices founders, Ethan Zuckerman, has also written about the subject at his blog My Heart's in Accra (see Nov 6th archives). We are all proud card-carrying members of the GVO community.

Your perspective Ernest and that of the two commentors so far is very much appreciated. I'll be sure to point that out in follow-on articles about this very important subject.

Bill (BRE), Germany

I guess what we are seeing is the 'regularization' of our understanding of China's relations with....everything and everybody. Touches on trade,investment, finance, foreign assistance and grand strategy. But not just grand strategy....