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Chinese President Hu Jintao has gone home after completing a 12-day, eight-nation tour of the impoverished but mineral rich African continent where he splashed cash in form of loans and grants and signed a number of trade deals. Hu finished his tour of Africa with a visit to the Seychelles on Friday. Before departure to Africa, China announced that it would write off debts owed it by 33 of the continent's poor countries. But not only did China write off the debt, Jintao's journey which kick-started with a visit to Cameroon on January 30 saw the country pouring millions of dollars to the countries he visited.

This is the second time that Hu has visited Africa in nine months and the third since 2003. The frequency with which he has paid visits to this poor continent raises credence that his country was interested more with Africa due to its vast minerals, which are important in fueling its growing economy. Some people have questioned whether the trips were in the interest of Africa or rather for the benefit of China itself.

During his speeches in Africa, however, Hu said consistently said that he wanted Africa to equally benefit from the booming trade between his country and the continent. He said China is not out to exploit the continent and that it was against any form of exploitation and slavery. He said in China, Africa has found a partner worth doing business with in order to enhance its economic growth. Trade between Africa and China pegged US$55.5 billion in 2006 from about US$42 billion in 2005.

The southern African countries of Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa heavily benefited from Hu's visit to the continent. In Namibia for instance, China pledged to give the country N$30- million grant for projects and another N$30 million interest-free loan was signed after he held talks with the Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba. Media reports indicate that trade between Namibia and China registered significant growth in 2006, amounting to US$240 million in the first 11-months of 2006, representing an increase of 103 percent from 2005.

In Zambia, China pledged US$800 million to be disbursed over the next three years. In addition it wrote off $11 million worth of debt and made promises to build schools and provide agricultural training and loans for road-construction equipment. However, China's visit to Africa was not as rosy as recorded events in Zambia indicate. Despite announcing the US$800 million pledge, Zambians refused to jubilate saying the investment will not benefit the local people, the majority of whom earn less than a dollar per day.

Hu cancelled at the eleventh hour a trip to the Copperbelt Province where he was to lay a foundation stone for a national stadium after it was apparent that people would hold a demonstration about poor working conditions in Chinese entities as well as register their anger at the death of 50 workers at a Chinese-owned copper mine in Chambishi. Events in Zambia indicate that the Chinese President might have a torrid time as University students also are rumored to have planned to demonstrate against his visit. Media reports indicate that all roads to the University of Zambia's campus were sealed off.

A Member of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections, Muweme Muweme, told a UN news agency that the Chinese investment, just as other investment deals, comes with vested interest, which is profit. He said such investments were not helping in building the capacity of the local people so that they can contribute to their own economic growth. "It is time that our government stopped favoring foreigners through incentives because Zambia offers raw materials," IRIN quoted him as saying. "Government should be more cautious with these investment pledges." Trade between Zambia and China registered US$316 million, a growth of 11.8 percent from 2005.

Not deterred by the protest and lack of interest by Zambians over his visit, Hu Jintao continued to splash cash and made massive pledges to the other countries he visited - Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and later Seychelles where he announced $12 million aid, part of which was meant to offset balance of payment in this Indian Ocean island. In addition, the island nation got a preferential loan pledge of US$39 million which will be provided by the AXIM bank of China.

While China's friendly countries are smiling that they managed to unlock the Chinese pulse, Zimbabwe whose leaders have been giving speeches as if it was China's most best friend in the continent, failed to dip in the largesse Hu brought to the continent. In the past nine months Hu has visited Africa twice and on both occasions he has shunned Zimbabwe, which is looked at as a pariah nation by the West. During the latest visit, Hu paid visit to four southern African countries of Zambia, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique. Conspicuously missing on the list is Zimbabwe, of course.

In his June 2006 seven-nation tour of Africa, Hu visited Zimbabwe's neighboring countries of South Africa, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and a fellow member of SADC - Tanzania and not Zimbabwe. Probably even Hu knows that you just don't go to bed with Zimbabwe without taking risks. An editorial by one of Zimbabwe's independent papers- Financial Gazette - titled, China snubs Zimbabwe, says whatever their reasons, the Chinese leaders' actions are even more perplexing in the light of the fact that these African tours are widely seen as an aggressive diplomatic push for deeper bilateral relations of which Zimbabwe is supposed to be part of the equation.

"The Chinese move is clearly intended as a deliberate snub of Zimbabwe," reads the editorial. "It speaks volumes about the significance the Chinese attach to their relations with Zimbabwe. What is increasingly clear is that the Chinese view Zimbabwe with the same suspicion as does the West." It says China is also avoiding Zimbabwean risks like a plague. Outright, the Chinese are not interested in investing in Zimbabwe. "What else could we say?" questions the paper. "But from its actions the emerging economic giant's ominous message is loud and clear: steer clear of Zimbabwe and don't touch it with a badge pole, lest you pour money into the jaws of completely irrational policies. The Chinese do not believe, just like the fence-sitting Western investors, that Zimbabwe can uphold bilateral investment protection agreements and manage its economy to international standards."

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