On February 11th, when meeting with China foreign minister Yang Jiechi, Zimbabwe Prime Minister Tsvangirai said he welcomes more Chinese companies to Zimbabwe for investment and cooperation. Zambia vice president also expressed the hope that China can maintain an investment in Zambia of no less than 1 billion US dollars this year. Besides, Mauritius and other African countries also place China as one of this year’s major investment sources.
In recent years, under the background of SinoAfrica cooperation, the investments in Africa from China rapidly grow. By the end of 2009, China has had a direct investment stock of over 9 billion US dollars in 49 African countries, featuring:
Meet the need of African economic development. Before 2009, African economy has maintained a high growth rate for more than ten years, calling for a large amount of capital to improve infrastructure in mining, manufacturing, transportation and other sectors. China began investing in 1980s, and 1990s and 2010s saw gradual and rapid increases in investments in Africa, releasing the tight financial situation in Africa at a certain extent. Chinese investments in Africa involve mining, finance, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, forestry, husbandry, fishing etc., and meet the needs of African countries for economic diversification.
Focus on capability fostering. How to help Africa improve abilities in autonomous and independent development is the major consideration for China to make investments there. China, in joint of other foreign enterprises, cooperates with Sudan on development of oil resources, and offers help in building modern integrated upstream and downstream petroleum industry system. In Zambia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and so on, China is constructing economic and trade cooperation gardens, and the investments in infrastructure totals more than US$250 million. These economic and trade cooperation gardens in turn attract more investments for the countries. For example, the cooperation garden set up in Zambia currently by China has attracted dozens of enterprises, involving an actual investment of US$600 million.
Pay attention to improvements of local standards of living. High unemployment rate is common in many African countries, and Chinese investments in Africa are concentrated in labor-intensive industries, which can create considerable new jobs. According to the governmental statistics, in 2010 Chinese investments brought 15,000 job opportunities to

Zambian. According to Uganda President Museveni, China has become the largest foreign investor in Uganda, and had 32 investment projects in last fiscal year, providing 5,500 plus new jobs. In addition, Chinese investors pay more attention to local society, and they contribute to local community by constructing roads, housing, hospitals and schools, which can greatly improve the quality of local lives.
Withstand international financial crisis. According to World Investment Report issued by UNCTAD last year, investments by developing countries in Africa increase quickly in recent years, which is now a major factor to changes in investment pattern in Africa. Facing the international financial crisis, investments from China and other developing countries showed a better risk resistance capacity. For example, these China-funded mining enterprises in Zambia had no layoff or cuts in production during the international financial crisis, but brought additional investments, which were spoken highly by the country leaders and public opinions.
Chinese investments are more and more favored by African countries. More importantly, it also stimulates western investors and other emerging countries. From 2000 to 2008, when Sino-Africa trade and economic cooperation was quickly deepening, global direct investments in Africa jumped from US$9 billion to US$88 billion. Foreign investments are the key resources for African development, and investments in Africa from China have various effects, including improvements in local lives, more opportunities for development, and also more choices for African countries.