China's tainted quest for wealth

[dArKeR]

By Howard French
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , Beijing

ILLUSTRATION MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
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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."

For any doubters, a glance at the statistics indicates that the official's exultation is, if anything, understated. Though starting from a modest base, China's trade with the African continent reached US$18.5 billion last year, an increase of 50 percent since 2000, and it is on track for another big increase this year.

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