Third, remarkable progress has been made in multilateral cooperation. China mainly focused on bilateral relations with African countries in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, however, while developing bilateral relations, it vigorously pursues multilateral cooperation. In 2000, China and Africa initiated the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation as a new platform for their multilateral cooperation. The nine years since the forum's establishment have witnessed rapid development of China-Africa relations.

How do you evaluate China's economic presence in Africa?

Mutual benefit and win-win results are the most prominent features in China-Africa economic cooperation. In 2008, two-way trade between China and Africa totaled $106.8 billion, 10 times that in 2000. However, the number only represented 4.17 percent of China's total foreign trade volume. There exists great potential for further cooperation. In terms of trade structure, China mainly imports energy and raw materials from Africa. In recent years, about one third of China's annual oil imports have come from Africa. Having said that, we should note that Africa exports its oil primarily to European countries and the United States. Nearly 70 percent of Africa's oil exports go to European countries and the United States, whereas oil exports to China account for less than 10 percent of the total. As Chinese companies seek an international presence, China's investment in Africa is on the rise, and so is the number of African projects contracted to Chinese companies. The contract value of African projects accounted for 26.8 percent of the total value of all foreign projects contracted to Chinese companies in 2008, as opposed to 14.4 percent in 2001.

China has a number of advantages in developing economic ties with African countries. First, it does not attach political strings to economic cooperation. Chinese companies offer much lower prices than their Western competitors while guaranteeing quality. They can also complete projects in a shorter time. Of course, China-Africa economic cooperation is not free from problems. Some Chinese companies are not doing well in transferring technology to Africa and employing local workers. Others have yet to do more to serve local communities and protect the environment. Generally speaking, large companies are better than small companies and state-owned companies are better than private companies.

In China-Africa relations, what issues should we pay special attention to?

We should enhance mutual understanding between Chinese and African peoples. Although Chinese leaders often visit African countries and the Chinese Government has attached greater importance to Africa in its foreign strategy than ever before, the Chinese people still do not have a good knowledge of Africa. Likewise, Africans learn about China mainly through Western media. This is a major problem in China-Africa relations. It is important that we give more publicity to these relations to improve the mutual understanding between the Chinese and Africans as well as other countries' understanding of China-Africa relations.

We should strengthen cooperation with other countries. There is no doubt that China is competing with Western countries in Africa, which is the main reason why Western countries criticize China. African countries, however, welcome this competition, which gives them more options. In fact, while developing relations with African countries, China does not undermine other countries' interests. Instead of seeking an "exclusive" relationship, it is willing to work together with other countries on the basis of mutual respect, equal consultation and full consideration of African countries' interests. They can first cooperate on easy tasks and then move on to difficult ones in a phased manner. For example, they can begin their cooperation with helping Africa conquer disease and starvation.

We should see great value in people-to-people and cultural exchanges. Strengthened people-to-people and cultural exchanges are indispensable to the sustainable development of China-Africa relations. China has taken some steps such as increasing the number of scholarships for African students to study in China, sending Chinese volunteers to African countries and establishing Chinese cultural centers. These are all positive initiatives. But we still need to do more in this regard.

We should promote African studies in China. China has only about 30 full-time researchers of African studies. If we include teachers and researchers of African history and African studies in colleges, the number is 50 or 60. So the number of Chinese scholars specializing in studying the status quo and future development of China-Africa relations is very small. This is highly disproportionate to the explosive growth of China-Africa relations.

What's your take on Western countries' criticism of growing China-Africa relations?

Western countries are changing their attitude toward China-Africa relations from being critical to engaging in competition and cooperation. At first, they were shocked by China's successful cooperation with African countries. Feeling their "cheese" had been taken away, they had an instinct to criticize China. With the passage of time, they have come to realize that criticism does no good at all and begun to work together with the country. Some Western think-tanks have made positive comments on China-Africa relations with a general belief that the development of these relations has brought about benefits to Africa. This is a remarkable change. As a major power, China should be able to face up to criticisms and analyze them with a rational mind.