The new scramble for Africa: how China became the partner of choice

In 2014 alone China invested £56bn in African infrastructure. But is this colonialism in another guise?

train carriage Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s light rail system was built mainly with Chinese money. Photograph: Solan Kolli/EPA

Addis Ababa has a surprise in store for those who haven’t visited in two years. Cutting through the heart of this booming city, where construction cranes are the most persistent feature of the skyline, is the Addis Ababa Light Rapid Transit (AALRT) network. It rears up suddenly at Meskel Square, which until 2013 gazed out onto an expanse of chaotic traffic. The traffic now bustles beneath the shadow of what is only the second metro ever built south of the Sahara. Tiếp tục đọc “The new scramble for Africa: how China became the partner of choice”