While I am loth to dispute all of Professor Brautigam's claims in favour of Chinese investment in Africa, she paints a far rosier picture of the situation than the nuanced reality. Yes, China has provided aid to Africa, just as the West had done in the past. Both have propped up unsavoury dictators. And that seems to be the crux of her argument: the West did bad, China does better. But better than Western neo-colonialism is a half-step towards improvement. Ignore the doctrine of indifference disguised as non-interference, which involves actual interference anyway, ignore the fact that construction projects are substandard, despite being commissioned by China in their multitude. Another argument Professor Brautigam makes is that China steadfastly applies the same standards to its African projects and employees as it does domestically: that itself is laughable. Nevertheless, Professor Brautigam makes several good points, and the approach is by far not as black and white as painted by many commentators (Dr PK Lee, looking at you here), there are definite benefits to African investment for China and the countries concerned. However, then tends to be a willful omission of China's watering down of sanctions against Omar Al-Bashar in 2005, it's a glaring omission made in order to present a stronger case for China's supposed altruism.