Reciprocity and win-win result are the cornerstone of China's cooperation with Africa on energy. The bilateral exchanges go further than energy. What China does in Africa is absolutely different from what the West has done and said.

He Wenping, a researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, compared the Sino-Afro cooperation with the behaviors of Western countries in Africa.

The western media is hyping about China's "predation" of Africa's oil resources and the so-called "economic colonialism" there these days. Visits of Chinese leaders' to Africa in a bid to promote the friendly, reciprocal cooperation between China and Africa are always labeled as "trip for energy" or "trip for oil".

It is true that oil import is necessary to fuel the fast growing economy with a big population. Since 1993 when it became a net oil importer, China has paced up the diversification process of its energy supply, which has led to win-win energy partnership with many countries and regions in the world, including African nations.

However, China's energy cooperation with Africa does not target at any third party and is built on mutual demands and double wins, which is absolutely different from the fire and sword used by Western colonialists in history.

According to the agreement on oil exploration reached during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Nigeria, two of the four slices to be exploited by China are located in the oil-rich Niger River Delta while the other two are in the Chad River area where the natural condition is bad and has not been developed.

Oil exploitation in that area will not pose any threat to the interest of European and American oil giants. Instead, it will help Nigeria prospect and mine maiden oil sources and diversify its investment. Besides that, China has made commitment of investing 4 billion US dollars in infrastructure construction and aid of 5 million US dollars for the purchase of anti-malaria drugs, as well as training programs for controlling malaria and bird flu.

The five Western giants currently dominate the Nigerian oil production. A senior member of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs said the Western countries are not interested in the manufacturing sector in his country and focus only on oil which has strategic significance. He added that those Western oil companies do not take effective measures to protect the environment and their exploitation of oil has caused severe pollution to the local area and worsen the life of the local people.

Cooperation between Chinese companies with the Nigerian side, on the contrary, goes beyond the energy and extends to agriculture, infrastructure construction, power and communication. Chinese plants there help to train local workers and offer products that local market needs.

In early 2006, the Nigerian government reached a deal with Guangdong-based New Sun Group on a 2 billion US dollar railway project. In 2005, non-oil exports to China generated more than 500 million US dollars for Nigeria.

As to China's energy cooperation with Sudan which has been played up by the Western media, Chinese companies has begun to participate in the energy development in Sudan since the mid 1990s and invested 2.7 billion US dollars there by the end of 2003.

It has built 1,506 kilometers of oil pipelines, a plant with capacity of 2.5 million tons of crude oil annually and scores of filling stations there. That has turned Sudan, which used to be an oil importer, to an oil exporter with a vertically integrated oil industrial system that enables exploitation, production, refining, transportation and marketing. In addition, china has invested some 20 million US dollars to build schools and hospitals in Sudan.

As China and Africa are complementary with each other in the energy field, stronger, reciprocal alliance in energy serves the interests of both parties and favors the common development.

By People's Daily Online