Ｒｅｄｉｓｃｏｖｅｒｉｎｇ Ａｆｒｉｃａ

The 1960s and 1970s were decades in which China and Africabegan a friendship that was built around Beijing's politicalbacking and developmental aid to a crop of emerging indepen-dent African nations. In the 1980s and 1990s, China shiftedits focus by devoting more efforts to establishing a rapportwith big powers and neighboring countries to create a soundenvironment for self-development. Since the turn of the cen-tury, however, the African continent has been rediscoveredby China as a strategic partner in many areas. As the Chinesemarket has flourished, so too has the African economy, whichmaintained a growth momentum in recent years and hasachieved a modest prosperity rarely seen in its history.He Fan, Deputy Director of the Research Center onInternational Finance affiliated to the Chinese Academy ofSocial Sciences shared his comments about this partnership onblog on the eve of the New Year.