ABSTRACT
China frames its engagement with Africa as one of mutual benefits, shared values and win-win cooperation and has also invested heavily in Africa. Nigeria and China commenced diplomatic relations in 1971 and, by 1972, a six-man delegation, led by Nigeria's government officials, visited Beijing to negotiate an open-ended agreement on economic and technical cooperation, and trade. This chapter applies sourcing and framing analyses to a sample of some news, feature and opinion articles obtained from the Thisday newspaper between 1 November 2011 and 31 December 2012. The two mega frames 'Partner' and 'Predator' mirror the broad characterisation of China-Africa relations prevalent in academic literature on the subject. The Partner mega frame comprises seven thematic points: investment, infrastructure, trade, aid, friendship, prosperous China and good labour practices. The Predator mega frame is also underpinned by seven thematic points: immigration, exploitation of resources, scepticism, insecurity, neo-colonialism, competition and 'fake China'.
