CGD/AidData China to Africa project is cited in a Diplomat article.
From the article:
Despite the frequency with which Washington might assert that China’s relations with Africa are based wholly on resource extraction, this view is overly simplistic at best. Indeed, China is helping Africa to develop significantly in many ways, such as infrastructure development.
For example, at an African Union conference in May, Hailemariam Desalegn, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister and the chairman of the AU noted that the neglect of infrastructure development has arrested growth on the continent for years. He then stated, “In this regard, I wish to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation to China for investing billions in this sector to assist us in our development endeavors.”
Indeed, aidData and the Center for Global Development (CGD) recently unveiled a database on China’s official development finance to Africa that was compiled using open source media. When first released, the researchers had found that between 2000 and 2011, China had pledged US$75 billion on 1,673 projects in 50 African countries. Of these, 1,422 have reached the commitment, implementation, or completion stage. As some noted at the time, this was roughly the amount of official finance the U.S. had sent to Africa at the time.
Read it here.
