ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the history of China's aid relationship with the African continent is made, followed by a summary of the debates about the Sino-African relationship so as to more fully scrutinize the nature and context of these disputes. Both Africa and China are vital actors in the international system. Africa partially because of its incredible and valuable energy, mineral and other natural resources and because of its flourishing economies, and China because of its escalating economic and manufacturing significance in the global economy. Traditionally, the main development aid actors in Africa can be roughly divided into the bilateral individual country-to-individual country donors, multilateral donors, including the international financial institutions (IFIs), the African Development Bank, the various UN agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Cultural cooperation and diplomacy are important elements of Chinese interactions with the countries to which they give aid. The Chinese call this form of aid "human resource development cooperation".
