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As China-Africa trade and investment soar, many see relationship as central to the continent

Li Xiaohai, head of one of many Chinese power stations in Africa, has been a victim of malaria himself and says Westerners would not put up with the conditions many of his workers endure.

The chairman of Sunon Asogli Power says Chinese companies are stealing an advantage in the developing continent over companies from the United States and Europe partly because they are prepared to rough it.

Ninety of the 290 workers operating the natural gas-fired power station in an isolated, remote location some 30 kilometers from Accra, capital of Ghana, mostly live in dormitory accommodation on site and are exposed to the environment with little in the way of entertainment.

"Every day people get malaria. It is very tough. Right now we have two or three people with it and I have even had it myself," he says.

The relationship between China and Africa will come under the spotlight once again when leaders of up to 50 African nations will descend on Beijing in July for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

China is not just building power stations but much needed infrastructure such as roads, ports and railways as well as cellular and 3G networks.

China's stock of overseas direct investment on the continent has increased eight-fold from $1.6 billion (1.3 billion euros) in 2005 to $13.04 billion at the end of 2010, the last year for which figures are available, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.

Trade has also seen a similar large increase with exports to Africa rising from $10.18 billion in 2003 to $59.95 billion in 2010.

In Africa itself the relationship is viewed as central. John Dramani Mahama, vice-president of Ghana, says dealing with China helps avoid the red tape linked to alternative sources of funding from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or various international aid agencies.

He recently signed up to a $3 billion loan from the China Development Bank to fund, among other things, a new gas pipeline.

"China has a growing economy and needs natural resources and Africa has these natural resources but also needs money for development so it becomes a win-win for them to come together and develop closer cooperation," he says.

With the waves from the Gulf of Guinea lapping outside the walls of his official residence Osu Castle, once a slave prison and a reminder of the country's colonial past, he says Africa is now looking beyond the West for financial assistance.

"The rise of BRICS countries like China, Brazil and India gives an alternative to African and other developing countries for much needed investment without having to go through the old rigmarole."

More than 4,300 km east of Accra, there can be no greater symbol of the relationship between China and Africa than the $124 million African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, which was not only built by Chinese workers but gifted to the people of Africa.

Some have criticized the gesture as a demonstration of the power that China now wields across the continent but Meles Zenawi, the prime minister of Ethiopia, dismisses suggestions it should have been built with African money.

"I am sure if we had done that we would have been accused of going after 'white elephant' projects. When it comes to certain quarters in Africa, you are damned if you do and damned if you don't," he says.

"The fact of the matter is that it was the Africans who asked the Chinese to build this conference hall for Africa. It is not the Chinese who offered to build it. We asked them to build it and they agreed and they have delivered, and we have no reason to criticize this."

Soft-spoken and a renowned intellectual, Meles, who has been prime minister for 21 years, was speaking from his impressive offices in central Addis Ababa.

China's first invested in infrastructure in Ethiopia in 1972 when it financed a road across the Rift Valley. A Chinese State-owned company is now completing the 339-km railway line linking the capital to the Red Sea state of Djibouti. Other Chinese projects include a road over the same route, hydro power stations and mobile communication networks.

Meles says far from exploiting Africa, China was in the process of rescuing Africa from the so-called Washington Consensus of the past 30 years that dictated that the private sector was the best engine for development in Africa.

"The official doctrine among the international financial institutions which in the past determined policy in Africa was that infrastructure would be taken care of by the private sector. Well, we have waited 30 years and nothing much has happened," he says.

"When the Chinese companies came in and started building infrastructure in a big way they were filling this major gap in the development of Africa. We, in Africa, should feel very satisfied with it."

Only one dominant view of the China-Africa relationship seems to exist in the West - that it is an exploitative and neo-colonial one.

This is something that flies in the face of all the evidence, according to Xie Xiaoyan, the Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia, who arrived in Africa in November after his previous posting in Iran.

"Since my arrival I have been asked this question on many occasions. The basic answer is that the accusation is groundless. I think it reflects the jealousy of the Western media and some forces in the West," he says.

Xie was speaking from the embassy building in the landscaped gardens brimming with birdlife and that offer almost a green lung from the hustle and bustle of the highest-altitude city in Africa that makes walking just a few paces exhausting.

"China has been accused of practising neo-colonialism, the exploitation of energy resources and other minerals and also supporting tyranny and authoritarian regimes. I think none of this holds water. If you look at history, tell me when China has been a colonial power. If it hasn't been in the past, why should it be now?"