Leading article: China's scramble for Africa

This must be one of the largest gatherings of national leaders ever held in a continent that is not their own. Forty-eight African leaders are spending the weekend in Beijing at a summit that puts China on the world diplomatic map. And while this is ostensibly a bilateral summit, it is an event we in the Western world ignore at our peril.

Little noticed by the US and Europe - preoccupied as we have been elsewhere - China has spent the past decade or so quietly returning to its earlier failed courtship of Africa. And, as the attendance at this summit shows, it has found willing partners aplenty.

In many ways, the China-Africa partnership makes sense, and it would be churlish to suggest otherwise. China's rapid industrialisation has fuelled a demand for natural resources that it cannot possibly satisfy at home. Africa is rich in minerals that it has neither the money nor the expertise to exploit. Beijing supplies much-needed infrastructure and cash. On the back of Chinese project managers and engineers comes a bevy of small-time traders offering goods that even poorer Africans can afford.

The other attraction of China for Africa, however, is more problematical. China treats its dealings with African governments as commercial transactions pure and simple. Beijing does not agonise about how its partners treat their own citizens or their neighbours. For countries such as Zimbabwe and Sudan, the two most egregious examples, relations with China are a boon. Making nice with Beijing has saved Zimbabwe from bankruptcy and helped to keep Robert Mugabe in power. International action over Darfur is nigh impossible so long as China needs oil from Sudan.

There is room for misgivings on other counts. China builds infrastructure in isolation and rarely transfers technology. Many African governments are committed to long-term trading arrangements that may turn out to be disadvantageous. And the influx of textiles, consumer goods and food products may discourage the formation of home-grown industries in Africa.

That said, China's success reflects to a large degree our own failure. We have tended to see the countries of sub-Saharan Africa only as needy recipients of aid to be dispensed on terms we decide. To the extent that China's involvement fosters Africa's development and spurs us to seek more imaginative approaches, it should not be dismissed as all bad.