CHINA US Focus - Perspectives shaping the world's most important bilateral relationship

Meeting with Mozambican President Armando Guebuza in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping continues to cement China’s economic and trade relations with emerging economies in Africa. As China’s investment in the continent continues to increase, Professor Robert Rotberg examines how natural gas deposits in Mozambique will shape China’s future in the region.

African leaders praised President Xi Jinping’s trip to the Fifth BRICS Summit, highlighting the close ties between China and sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the warm welcome, Professor Robert Rotberg warns that Xi’s ties to autocrats could harm China’s future prospects on the continent. As Xi cracks down on internal corruption, should he also reevaluate the corrupt practices of his African peers?

President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Russia, Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of Congo, and his participation in the fifth BRICS summit in Durban has sparked speculation over China’s diplomatic inclinations among some circles overseas.

Even though the Western media attacks it as a form of Chinese neo-colonialism, the China-Africa relationship has in the past decade moved steadily and rapidly forward despite interferences.

As the large emerging economies met at this year’s BRICS Summit in Durban, South Africa, they focused on proposals for a BRICS development bank and the future of the global economy in an attempt to counter reduced growth prospects.

At this month’s BRICS summit in Durban, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa will set ambitious goals. But, given the obstacles to cooperation – from mutual distrust to disparate interests – that exist among them, they are more likely to achieve their goals individually.