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China has made serious inroads into Africa in ways that one would have to go there to know (I know). And they have basically been doing this for several reasons, with the two main ones being for resources (e.g. Angola is the main provider of oil to China) as well as geo-political reasons. As things stand, China has really enmeshed itself in the region, and unlike the West they really do not have strings (at least visible ones) attached. They don't care whether Mugabe spent a trillion plus Zim dollars on his birthday ....they don't care if Sudan kills a bunch of people (and even when they move in a lot of military equipment to try and 'protect' people it has certain aspects that are interesting ....for instance sending some of their latest hardware, when a simple force of APCs could do a lot to stop the Janjaweed .....basically it is a way of establishing a clear military presence under the aegis of 'protecting the hapless').

While all this is going on people are simply oblivious ....a week ago someone (a FReeper) even stated that the only thing in Africa is beetle-dung.

What is interesting is that (and i said it a week ago too) if Russia moved into Norway and took over ONE off-shore oil-well, people would be screaming to high heaven how the 'evil Ruskies' are trying to take over the world.

China moves in and takes over (more or less) an ENTIRE continent, and people talk about beetle dung.

Anyways, China has been rapidly diversifying its resource base (and not just in Africa but also in Latin America), and it has also been putting a lot of those nations (in Africa and L.America) under its geo-political footprint. But people either do not seem to see it, or do not seem to care.

Let's put it this way ....for all of Africa's woes and issues (and there are many), it is still one of the most resource rich areas in the globe. It is hugely untapped, and those resources are at a very low price point relatively (particularly if you throw in political concessions). Those Governments are largely tired of Western aid (which does have certain fiscal requirements ....call them strings ....that China does not appear to have). And China is also heavily marketing to the African middle-class (and contrary to perceptions, it is present, substantial and growing .....it is not India or anything like that, but the vast majority of african nations have good middle-class populations that have consumer power .....it is just that the Discovery channel prefers the starving hut-dwelling masses).

China is making heavy moves, and no one seems to notice or care. Yet, a decade or so from now, China will basically have a continental base .....yet if Cuba said we get out of Guantanamo, or the Russians decided to send some conscripts to take over a simple offshore oilwell, we would be bursting veins in ire.