Africa ties benefit both

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Africa on Friday that China is embarking on "new colonialism" by extracting the continent's natural resources to enrich its development interests, and she held up the United States as an alternative.

It is true that a large part of Africa used to be under the rule of Western powers and that the African people suffered during this colonialism. History shows that most African nations gained independence by fighting against Western colonialism in the latter half of last century.

China has never colonized any nation in Africa. On the contrary, it is well known to African people and the world that China has helped Africa build many schools, hospitals and other infrastructure, which has benefited many African people. China has also been regularly reducing and canceling the debt of poor African countries and continues to provide preferential loans and credit support for them.