The paper examines the myriad roles and contributions of China to Africa's social and economic well-being within the parameters of the expanding Sino-African relationship. The age-long interaction between China and Africa, has witnessed trade and economic investments, aid, special concessions, debt relief, scholarships, provision of educational and medical training, and building of infrastructural projects which flow mainly from China to Africa. This deepening engagement with Africa has generated an alarmist tendency in the international relations scholarship, with arguments labeling the behavior of China in Africa as a form of new colonialism and neoimperialism, but this paper argues the opposite. The paper posits that China's relationship with Africa has undeniable gains for the continent, and has contributed to its socioeconomic good. China's expanding engagement with Africa offers the continent, an ample opportunity for growth and progress.

The rise of China as a very visible actor in Africa is one of the most striking features of the first decade of the new millennium. During the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), a conference of heads of states from Africa in Beijing in November 2006, it became clear that China seeks deeper ties with Africa. The meeting was attended by 47 heads of state out of a total of 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China. It resulted in a plan pledging that China will double its aid to Africa and set up a China-Africa development fund to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Africa. The FOCAC resulted in a three-year action program. It promised among other things to train 15,000 African professionals and build 30 hospitals, malaria treatment centers and 100 rural schools. The document is full of phrases expressing China's good intentions in Africa, such as `peace and development', etc.

Although China's engagement with Africa has intensified in the recent years, the relationship has a long history. China's interaction with Africa goes far back in history and includes trade along the Silk Road as well as Admiral Zeng's travels to eastern Africa in the 15^th century. China's contemporary engagement with Africa has its roots in the mid-1950s, notably in the Bandung conference, where Asian and African states reinforced nonalignment and sought to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation. Chinese premier Zhou Enlai's tour of 10 African countries between 1964 and 1965 offered support to Africa's people and leaders, and Chinese overseas development assistance became a feature of relations, focusing on infrastructure and technological development, as well as student exchange visits. The most notable example of the cooperation was construction of the Tazara railway, linking Zambia to the coastal port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and thus providing Zambia an alternative route to the sea. With the taking off of Deng Xiaoping's reforms, Sino-African cooperation became less prominent for some time, but regained momentum in the 1990s. President Jiang Zemin, who toured Africa in May 1996, presented the five proposal points, establishing the contours of a new relationship with Africa centering on a reliable friendship, sovereign equality, nonintervention, mutually beneficial development, and international cooperation.

History and Culture Journal, Sino-African Relationship, Economic Investments, Chinese Companies, Cultural Cooperation, Social Development, African Development, Foreign Direct Investments, Millennium Development Goals, International Markets, Chinese Enterprises, Labor Cooperation Programs, Infrastructure Development, Construction Sectors, International Aid Organizations, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.