China and Africa's top leaders have already logged an impressive number of air miles visiting each other in 2013. President Xi Jinping visited Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of the Congo in March and Vice Premier Wang Yang traveled to Zimbabwe and Ethiopia in May. In July, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan flew to China for a state visit, and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta paid a six-day visit to China in August. In September, Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, will make his way to Nigeria and Kenya.

The frequent exchanges between the new leadership of China and Africa are indicative of the growing trust between the two sides.

Zhang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will not be limited to parliamentary cooperation on his African trip, which will include more people-centric events. One such initiative is "Experience China," a cultural mix of Chinese television screenings and performing shows. This will allow Africans to gain a better understanding of modern China, a country that has inherited and continues to value its ancient traditions, while at the same time, respecting, appreciating and learning from the cultures of other countries.

Both Nigeria and Kenya have long-standing friendships with China. Nigeria is the first African country to open a culture center in China, and a Chinese culture center in Nigeria will be unveiled soon. In terms of economic ties, the annual bilateral trade between China and Nigeria surpassed $10 billion in 2012.

During Kenyan President Kenyatta's visit to China, the two leaders gave the green light to a series of agreements in trade, finance, new energy and environmental protection. By June, China had become Kenya's biggest source of foreign direct investment, with a total of $474 million. China now ranks second among Kenya's trading partners.

Meanwhile, with China offering more than 200 government scholarships to Kenyan students annually and the establishment of three Confucius Institutes in the East African country, Kenya has become a prime example of Sino-African people-to-people exchanges.

It has become abundantly clear that China-Africa relations need both the "hard backing" of economic cooperation, and "soft propellant" of people-to-people ties to build the new vision of strategic partnership between the two regions.

With the "look East" trend from African countries becoming stronger, the deepening partnership between China and Africa brings real benefits to both and contributes to common development of both people and business. CA