China just offered $10 billion in concessional loans to Africa. China has long been involved with many projects in Africa amidst talks of trying to build a relationship with the continent solely for the purpose of exploiting its natural resources for their fast growing country, and economy. In fact China has the fastest growing economy in the whole world, most recently posting a 8.9%  growth despite a global economic drought. It seems all signs point to a time when China will not be able to cater to its country’s demands. On the other hand there is Prime Minister Wen Jiabao who asserts that helping Africa is essential to global development and should be a priority for all western nations. “Africa’s development is an essential part of achieving global development, and as the sincere and dependable friend of Africa, China deeply feels the difficulties and challenges faced by Africa,”. It’s interesting to see how this will play out especially in the next few years, as they say time will tell. Here is a New York Times article about the recent announcement from Prime Minister Wen Jiabao: Click here