Trade booming

Joint efforts are made not only in the political sector, but also in the business sector. According to Cheng Zhigang, Secretary General of the China-Africa Industrial Cooperation and Development Forum (CAIF), the conflict in North Africa has caused great losses to Chinese enterprises that have investments in the countries involved.

China has 16 enterprises directly under the Central Government operating in Libya, including three large ones with projects worth 9 billion yuan ($1.42 billion) each in investment. "According to my estimation, the total losses of Chinese enterprises in Libya reached nearly $48 billion," Cheng told ChinAfrica.

But Cheng said that he doesn't believe that the turmoil in North Africa can substantially affect Sino-African business cooperation. Zhang said that China's trade with North African countries are not as big as countries like Angola, South Africa and Nigeria.

Statistics from the CAIF show that China's top three exporters in Africa in 2011 are South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt while the top three importers are Angola, South Africa and Swaziland. In the first half of 2011, the Sino-African trade volume exceeded $79 billion, and Cheng estimated that trade of the whole year will reach $150 billion. "In the coming two to three years, the bilateral trade will exceed $300 billion to $400 billion, and may exceed Sino-EU trade," said Wei Jianguo, Secretary General of China Center for International Economic Exchanges at a seminar on Sino-African cooperation on October 24.

Welcome back

In war-torn Libya, things are also turning increasingly better because of efforts from both sides. The country's National Transitional Council (NTC) has made a good-will response. It recently indicated that the transitional government recognizes the legal contracts between the Gaddafi Government with Chinese companies and would like to compensate for losses, expressing its will to welcome Chinese enterprises to return to the country.

Some Chinese enterprises such as Huawei and ZTE have returned to Libya to start business there, and some others are also making preparation for going back.

Elections have also meant possible change in foreign policies of new governments. A total of 17 African countries had elected their new governments. According to Liu Guijin, Special Representative of the Chinese Government for African Affairs, some opposition leaders of African countries do not know much about China's policies to Africa and possibly use anti-China sentiment as the tool for electioneering. Once they take power, they tend to support China's Africa policies. "So far, we haven't found any evidence showing that a presidential election can affect Sino-African relations," said Liu.