From: Nathaniel Glover-Mani, Berlin, Germany, Courtesy IIJ/InWEnt

Berlin, March 11, GNA - Professor Jonathan Holslag, European Union (EU) Policy Advisor on China has denied that the bloc's criticism of Sino-Africa trade relations was premised on the basis that Europe saw China as a threat to its interests in Africa.

Prof Holslag said the Union's uneasiness with China-Africa partnership rather stemmed from the concern that African leaders might not use the profits being reaped to tackle the myriad of development problems of the continent.

"we do not see China as a threat to European interest in Africa, but at the same time EU is worried that China's tendency to gloss over human rights and governance issues will mean that the profits being reaped by Africa governments in these deals might not be translated into an economic opportunity that should help transform the lives of the people."

Speaking in an interview with a group of African Journalists at the International Institute for Journalism in Berlin, Prof Holslag said resources being received by African governments should be judiciously utilized for the benefit of the people.

EU remains among Africa's largest trading partners, but recent forays by China in the region, especially in the energy sector has drawn some sharp criticism from Brussels, due to what they claim was China's tendency to gloss over human rights issues.

Prof Holslag said the apprehensions were not about whether China invested in Africa, explaining that China-Africa relations must rather serve as a fulcrum from instigating economic development on the African continent and not another means of propping up bad governance and misrule.

Besides, he said, EU's interest in Africa focused more on the service sector while that of China was principally in the energy sector, a situation that did not array the two blocs against each another. He said the EU required China to link her investments in Africa to good governance and human rights.

China's investment in Africa amounted to 11.7 billion dollars in 2006, while bilateral trade reached more than 50 billion dollars during the same year, according to African Development Bank figures.