As Shanghai plays host this week to the African Development Bank’s annual board of governors meeting, African countries are expecting that China will employ the event to show that its growing warmth for the continent extends beyond energy and commodities. China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, increased its trade ties with Africa by 40 percent last year as it consolidated ties with the continent to lock natural resources. The bank’s first meeting in Asia in its 43-year history intends to delve into how the 53 African and 24 non-African member countries can help the continent find its economic feet. The ministerial round table dialogue will concentrate on the development of partnerships between Africa and Asia whereas high level seminars will settle on trade and capital flows between the two continents. The other themes are on entrepreneurship, private sector development in Africa, Asian lessons in human capital and technology in development as well as regional cooperation and trans-boundary Challenges. Other deliberations will look into partnerships and practices in Asia with respect to corporate governance with a focus on African/Chinese enterprises, investment, project financing, and risks. China, as host and also Africa’s biggest Asian trading partner is expected to fall into the spotlight given recent international criticism over its rising commercial importance in the continent. Wang Hongyi, an African expert with the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, has said that the summit demonstrated China’s craving to ‘strengthen and upgrade the level of political and economic ties with Africa’. Since long, China has played on its solidarity with developing African nations, but in recent years Beijing has looked to the continent as a source of natural resources as well as a growing market for its goods. A massive energy-consumer China imports nearly 30 percent of its oil needs from Africa. At the same time, bilateral trade has reached $55.46 billion last year, marking a fivefold upsurge since 2001, according to Chinese statistics. At a landmark conference in November that converged leaders from 48 African countries to Beijing, China had guaranteed to double its aid to the continent and to offer $5 billion in loans and credits by 2009. On the other hand, China’s dollar diplomacy in the continent has set off repeated US and European criticism about Beijing’s eagerness to do business with some of the globe’s more offensive regimes, including Sudan and Zimbabwe. However, many African governments seem contented to whirl in investment and take benefit of soft loans and aid from China, but opponent argue that Beijing is scheming to milk Africa of its bountiful oil and other natural resources. Analysts have gone on to say that Chinese investment was helping Africa, but with political consequences.