Chinese Boom:Chinese businesses and products gain popularity in Africa

The increased presence of Chinese companies, a majority of Kenyans and Nigerians believe, is positively impacting their economy.

This emerged from a recent poll by GlobeScan in partnership with the University of Maryland for the BBC World Service, which shows 75 percent of Kenyans see China's influence as positive.

The figures were even higher in Nigeria where a whopping 89 percent had the same view.

The survey polled more than 24,000 people around the world about whether countries and the European Union affected the world for good or for ill.

According to the poll, views of China improved significantly over the last year, both in the developing and industrialized world. The Asian country, it adds, overtook both the EU and the United States in terms of popularity.

Half of the people polled outside China said the country had a mainly positive effect on the world. A majority of the people who said China had a positive effect credited its economy, products and services for their opinion.

"It is Chinese economic assistance to these countries and their closer economic ties with China that have improved China's popularity in these countries," Su Hao of China Foreign Affairs University told China Daily.

According to the poll, the overall rankings, based on the percentage of people who said the country or countries had a positive effect, in descending order were: Japan, Germany, Canada, Britain, China, France, the EU, the United States, Brazil, India, South Africa, South Korea, Russia, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and Iran.

It is no secret that Chinese investment in Africa has escalated rapidly over recent years.The economic powerhouse is now Africa's largest trading partner, surpassing the United States and its traditional European partners. Commercial ties between the two regions has exploded since 2000, leaping from $10 billion to more than $100 billion in the last decade.

In Kenya, Chinese firms have won serious admiration from the public for their efficiency and speed, which has helped turn around the country's economy.

Indeed, another market survey by research firm Ipsos Synovate, showed that even though most consumers preferred locally made goods, their liking for items sourced from China out-weighed that of products from once dominant UK and U.S. suppliers.

China's products are virtually seen everywhere in the East African country.

Chinese interests in Kenya have grown tremendously, especially in the construction sector.

China has won many contracts to erect new buildings and hospitals including the 112-bed capacity Mama Lucy Kibaki referral hospital in Nairobi.

They have also constructed a number of roads, the most notable one being the eight lane Nairobi-Thika superhighway and more Chinese vehicles are dotting Kenyan roads.

China's increased presence in Kenya since 2004 was triggered by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki's government policy to look East for investments and aid as traditional partners like Western Europe and the United States became more tight-fisted.

The strategy helped unlock gates for Chinese firms, ranging from oil exploration to mining, infrastructure development and manufacturing.

"Many Chinese have come to Kenya and we have seen the good work they have done in our country. We urge more of them to come and pursue their interests here," said President Kibaki when he launched the construction of a 30-km bypass that cuts through the southern part of Nairobi.

According to Solange Guo Chatelard, an expert in China-Africa relations, the intensification of the Asian country's investments in the continent has led many critics, chiefly based in the West, to question their motives.

Chatelard told the BBC that while some argue that China is a 21st Century partner for development and a unique catalyst for growth, critics fear that China is a new colonial power, plundering Africa's natural resources and exacerbating existing patterns of corruption and inequality.

"Advocates claim that China's rise has benefited the continent by injecting unprecedented investment, dynamism, and confidence into local markets, generating important gains for local economies," he wrote.

"Critics, in contrast, accuse China of violating local laws, depleting the continent's resources, and taking advantage of corrupt leaders," he added.

Despite mounting criticism and the Western media's largely negative portrayal of events, reality on the ground reveals that, by and large, both African governments and people welcome investment and new partnerships with China.

Chatelard said China has opened up new economic, diplomatic and strategic avenues for African states, but it is ultimately down to Africans, both the people in power and the man on the street, to negotiate on their own terms, identify priorities, and leverage opportunities to further their own interests.

(Reporting from Kenya)