China bringing gifts to Africa

BEIJING -- Wooing Africa ever more intensely, President Hu Jintao returned to the region yesterday on his second trip in nine months, toting huge loan offers and pledging not to meddle in the continent's affairs.

Hu is assured a warm welcome, but he faces emerging obstacles in a region that once showed more enthusiasm for China's interest in its resources and in greater trade.

Last month, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa charged that China's expansion in Africa is reminiscent of colonial-style behavior. And France's defense minister has warned of Chinese-made weapons spilling into trouble spots, apparently referring to Sudan, a key supplier of crude oil to China.

Hu's first stop is Cameroon. Then he heads to Liberia, Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, and the Seychelles before returning to China 12 days later.

Driven by its resource-hungry economy and seeking greater global clout, China is courting African nations with loans, swiftly growing trade, and offers of political support. Autocratic countries that the West considers pariahs, namely Sudan and Zimbabwe, have leapt at the offers.

China pledged Monday to cancel the debts of 33 poor African countries, without disclosing the amount. Chinese officials also said they would make $3 billion in new loans during Hu's trip.

"The preferential loans provided by China carry no political conditions," the Ministry of Commerce said on its website.

Such no-strings-attached loans have generated good will in African nations weary of the conditions that the World Bank and Western governments set to limit corruption. China shrugs off criticism that such loans foster poor governance, and it bristles at charges that it is flooding Africa with cheap goods.

China's trade with Africa grew tenfold in the past decade, hitting $55 billion last year. Hu set a target last November of doubling trade again by 2010. China gets a third of its imported oil and abundant raw materials from Africa.