China's Hu heads to Africa bearing goodwill, controversy

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao embarked on his country's latest effort to woo Africa with aid and business on Tuesday, leaving on an eight-nation tour that will include a controversial visit to war-stricken Sudan.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Hu's tour was "another major diplomatic move" towards Africa after an African summit held in Beijing in November, Xinhua news agency reported.

China sought then to show that its rapidly expanding ties with Africa went beyond the oil and minerals that Beijing has been snapping up to fuel its economic boom. And Hu's visit has been promoted to send the same message.

At the summit, Hu offered $5 billion in loans and credit to Africa along with a doubling of aid. And on Monday, China went some way to acting on that promise, announcing that it will lend African nations $3 billion in preferential credit over three years and double aid and interest-free loans over the same time.

The announcement stressed that China's offer came with none of the "political conditions" that Western countries often demand -- and which irk many African leaders.

China has faced criticism from Western aid groups that it encourages corruption and misrule by failing to demand accountability when giving aid, loans and investment.

In 2006, trade between China and Africa reached $55.5 billion, a jump of 40 percent on the previous year, Xinhua reported on Monday, citing Ministry of Commerce data. Accumulated direct Chinese investment in the continent reached $6.6 billion, Xinhua said.

This investment had "spurred the economic development of African countries and increased local employment opportunities", Xinhua said, noting that China had an overall $2.1 billion trade deficit with African countries in 2006.

Hu will be accompanied by Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and other senior policy makers.

But Hu appears likely to also face wariness and criticism as he passes through Cameroon, Sudan, Namibia, South Africa, Seychelles, Liberia, Zambia and Mozambique.

Some African analysts and official advisers warn that poor African countries may ultimately lose from expanding trade with China unless they carefully examine the deals and protect their weak manufacturing sectors from China's shiploads of cheap clothes and household goods.

Since last year, Beijing has seen its oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria -- nine are now being held -- its investment policies attacked in Zambia's elections and its textile exports to South Africa criticised for destroying jobs.

SUDAN

And on Feb. 2-3, Hu will visit Sudan, where Western human rights groups and governments have said China's reluctance to confront President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has frustrated international efforts to staunch civil war and mass killings in the Darfur region.

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, urged Hu to press Bashir to accept U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur.

"Millions of civilians face this nightmare because of the Sudanese government's policies of supporting abusive armed groups both within Sudan and across Sudan's borders," said an open letter to Hu from the group issued on Monday.

"China can demonstrate its support for regional peace and security by publicly calling for an end to abusive domestic and foreign policies."

China has said it will support U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur only if Sudan agrees to their presence. Hu appears unlikely to shift from that message during his visit.

"Using pressure and imposing sanctions is not practical and will not help settle the issue," China's Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun said of Darfur last week.