When I arrived in Guangzhou (Canton) last September, it took me only a few minutes to notice how many Black people there were at the airport. My first thought had been that they were Western tourists, like the ones I’d met several years ago in Xi’an, and I wondered how they were received. But there were far too many, and as I soon learned Guangzhou is a trading center, not a major tourist destination.

Africa’s importance to China is growing, as a result the United States is paying more attention, too: “The US president has approved plans to create a US military command for Africa, a move that reflects increasing US strategic interests in the continent.” Read more in “US to have Africa military command” from Al Jazeera.

I was talking to an African American professor from Williams College over the weekend about this, and he said that there is concern in Africa (he knows Malawi) about the Chinese as possible new colonialists. Let’s hope that the result of this focus on Africa will result in good for that continent, not just turn it into an economic and political battleground.