With Chinese premier Li Keqiang concluding a four-nation tour of Africa Sunday, the Global Times thought the time was ripe for some patronising concern trolling about the continent.
Li visited Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya, two of which have GDPs among the top five highest in Africa (Nigeria #2, Angola #5) while the other two are just outside the top 10 (Kenya #11, Ethiopia #12). Despite this, Global Times felt it was appropriate to illustrate the story with a cartoon of an emaciated African child looking up to a white/Asian hand:
While China's investment in Africa has been impressive and hugely beneficial to many countries, its media treats the continent in a patronising manner reminiscent of colonial powers, while, remarkably, criticising those same Western nations for their attitudes towards Africa.
China has turned Africa into an attractive and vibrant region from what was a "hopeless continent" in the eyes of most Westerners just a decade ago.
During the past more than 30 years, Africa has been neglected by the West and seldom listed on the agenda of diplomatic priorities of major powers. However, sensing its economic vigor and diplomatic clout thanks to the large number of 54 countries and around 1.1 billion people, Western countries have started to explore its potential to serve their interests.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to promote Tokyo's economic and security cooperation with Africa while traveling there in early January. And Washington also eyes its huge market and longs to become a free rider in this development course. US President Barack Obama proposed several new initiatives for his Africa policy in hopes of regaining the US influence upon this long-ignored continent.
Nevertheless, the economic and trading structures of such developed states are somewhat alien to Africa's status quo.
In a separate article, the paper wondered whether the China-Africa relationship could be cemented with interracial marriages.
[Top image: Li Keqiang shakes hands with Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi, via CNS]
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