[Previous entry: "Sudan agrees with UN to set up safe zones for Darfur villagers"] [Next entry: "Gruesome hostage murder video a hoax"]

08/07/2004:

"China in Africa: All Trade, With No Political Baggage"

BEIJING - A look of satisfaction played on the trade official's face as he reeled off statistics recently from a ministry report about China's booming commerce with Africa.

"Forty African countries have trade agreements with China now," said the official, Li Xiaobing, deputy director of the West Asian and African Affairs division of the Trade Ministry. "We are doing a railway project in Nigeria, a Sheraton hotel in Algeria and a mobile telephone network in Tunisia. We are all over Africa now."

Full Article : nytimes.com