主题：【原创】一计不成 又生一计 西媒集体发难中国新动向 -- 平天下

While the success of failure of China's policy in Africa is still a debate and waiting to be seen, the failure of western policy in Africa could be seen quite clearly.

The bottom line is, China's treat Africa as equals, the west treat Africa as children. Africa need more respect, to decide for themselves what they want and don't want. With China, they have the last word on the establishment of a business deal, with the west, they depend on the mood of the "parents".

In my opinion, its better to build roads, schools and hospitals and then worry about whether or not they can benefit the people, rather than waiting for the country to self-transform into a political utopia first while a few million starve to death while waiting for it.

iewgnem, toronto, canada

Ultimately, we all are held accountable for keeping our governments accountable - if not by each other, then by the consequences of having our governments attend to priorities that are not ours.

What is important are the day-by-day minute-by-minute choices people make and whether they are

a) made locally or with intent to show solidarity with fellow citizens and

b) symbolic of holding a government accountable for following our priorities or simply keeping one's head below the parapet.

An academic reply but critical. If you startle a group of impala, they scatter in all directions. That is one choice. The other is to immediately close ranks and out stare what startled you. To do that requires trust that the other 'impala' will close ranks with you, otherwise you are left standing alone trying to out stare a threat.

A practical way forward is to learn Mandarin. That alone is a gesture of standing firm.

Jo, Olney, UK

"Western moralising may sometimes be hypocritical, but it is surely preferable to the absence of any morality at all in dealing with the likes of Mugabe"

-- should that be something that the Africans should decide for themselves? Maybe the African nations are not "recoiling" from Western hypocrisies, a short-coming that all human beings possess, to varying degrees. Instead, maybe they are recoiling from Western Chauvinism - the assumption that we are smarter and more capable of making the life-and-death decisions for the Africans than the Africans themselves. Maybe that is why the Chinese practicality is more attractive: they are there for trade and nothing else. They do not try to impose their values and they are not there to topple governments or instigate revolutions. That is for the Africans themselves to decide. Maybe that is what all of the third world wants from the west also -- to just be left alone to find their own ways. They see what we did to Iraq, and they know better.

Mario Savio, Berkeley, California

Well said, Dan.

Many people (the disciples of Rhodes, I suppose) are still bitter over the loss of their "rightful" loots in Africa, and all too happy to brand anyone cooperating with their former victims as "thieves" or the new "colonialist". I guess according to these high-moral priests people in Africa should put up with occasional missile launched into their pharmaceutical factories from the Indian Ocean, or occasional outbreak of extreme violence funded by the oil mercenaries. A whole set of Encyclopedia Africana can be written on how Britain alone butchered, raped, and looted the continent. Righteous people have long memory.

Ian Summers, Birmingham, UK

"Beijing offers them a real alternative to dealing with the West and its heavy moral baggage "

Unfortunately the west has lost its moral currency in Africa.

Look at west's endorsement of Ethiopia's and Kenya's Elections

Look at the suffering of the Somalis that is being instigated by the west encouraging Ethiopia to do their dirty job. I can go on .....

African's see west's moral out rage when it just suits them.

Dan, London, UK

Thank you for reminding us of how benign old style colonialism was. I am gladdened to hear that Heart of Darkness, the Zulu wars, the India Salt Act of 1882, the use of poison gas in Ethiopia, the invention of the concentration camp in the Boer Wars, and the North American slave trade were just figments of the collective imagination.

Theresa Yarmouth, Chicago, IL, USA

1: to enter for conquest or plunder

2: to encroach upon : infringe

3 a: to spread over or into as if invading : permeate <doubts invade his mind>

b: to affect injuriously and progressively <gangrene invades healthy tissue>

把中国40年援助非洲公路、铁路说成是“侵略”，把当今中国经贸往来说成是“侵略”(invasion),联想到他们说“中国1951年侵略了西藏”，难道他们眼里“侵略”这个词是这么用的！简直是脑残。那么西方殖民者在非洲美洲划分土地、屠杀人民、奴役黑人、贩卖人口鸦片，这些算什么呢？

尽管这次美、英围堵中国的“安岳江”号是以津巴布韦“大选舞弊”问题为借口，其实本质问题还是中南非洲的土地问题（参见津巴布韦土改问题）和西方在那里的利益。作为早期的殖民主义者，西方在中南非洲占据了大量的土地资源，尽管民族解放运动中大部分中南非洲都完实现了独立，但是白人后裔作为农场主占据了大量土地的问题一直没有解决，即便是西方在压力下允许黑人 “和平演变” 的南非，土地改革问题也是当地白人势力和西方国家不愿意看到的（可以参见姆贝基政府在土改政策）。

最近西方比较关注中国与非洲的关系，从近期来看，主要是中国对非洲国家的援助模式对非洲的经济发展、特别是实现工业化现代化的意义（中国援建和投资更多的是基础设施、农田水利和基础工业），远大于白人农场主种植西方市场需求的经济作物的意义。非洲国家要与中国合作实现工业化，最终还是要解决土地问题，这是西方与中国在非洲的深层矛盾。

从远期来看，西方国家认为中国1949年后的发展模式即：通过土改完成动员——重化工业基础建立——改革开放调整结构——引进外资、劳动密集型、出口导向终于走不下去——产业升级、技术创新、科学发展，对人口占50亿的发展中国家的影响太大，特别是起点上的土地改革。他们生怕非洲、南美等发展中国家效仿当年的中国通过革命的方式完成土改（美国继成立非洲司令部后又要组建南美的第四舰队），即使早已放弃了“输出革命”的战略，而且中国政府按照正常的贸易规则办事，强调办好自己的事情，但西方还是担心非洲人民用激烈的方式完成对当年他们的殖民政策完成清算。因此一会儿指责中国“新殖民主义”，一会儿指责中国“输出军火、支持独裁”，一会儿利用当地白人的非政府组织抗议中国对非洲的投资与贸易。