This volume is an excellent contribution to the on-going debate on Sino-African relations. The editors present an interesting compilation of essays that will advance discussions on China's momentous engagement in Africa, and also serve as fodder for policy makers, as they shape the future of this relationship. This has been possible with the calibre of contributors from both academia and leading pan-African think-tanks whose essays represent the different trajectories of this engaging debate.

The book is organised into four main parts. The first part defines the context for China's engagement in Africa; the second provides detailed examples of this relationship through selected country cases; in the third part, the editors present comparative accounts of Africa's relationship with other major powers like the United States, France and the European Union, in an effort to situate Sino-African relations within the frame of external engagements on the African continent. Together, these parts underscore the ‘contending views that tend to compartmentalize the significance and implications of China in Africa along the lines of partner, competitor, and colonizer’ (p. 4).

In the first part of the book, Garth Le Pere's chapter clearly outlines the path that this relationship has taken in the past, and then further takes a more nuanced approach to highlight China's strategic global agenda, and how this fits with Africa's efforts at reintegration into the global economy. He also gives space to the discussion of the areas of contention, which are mainly the Darfur connection, and environmental and corruption concerns. These concerns are further illuminated in the country cases featured in the second part of the book. Sharath Srinivasan's chapter introduces the Sudan–Darfur issue which is ‘the thorn in China's side’, as Chinese foreign policy demonstrated by its non-interference clause is put to test. In this very case, China's gradual acceptance of a pragmatic way of exerting influence vis-à-vis its touted image of no interference in domestic affairs is pushing Beijing to engage African states multilaterally instead on a bilateral basis. Moving on to another case study that exposes the inherent challenges in Sino-African relations, Lucy Corkin shows the non-transparent nature of economic agreements between Angola and China, even though she does not hesitate to also highlight China's contribution in national infrastructure which is inching Angola towards economic self-determination. Another key area of concern is mentioned in Muna Ndulo's contribution, which appraises the relationship that has developed between Zambia and China, as Beijing heavily invests in Zambia's Copperbelt. Nevertheless, this rewarding economic relationship has come at the cost of poor environmental and labour standards, against a backdrop of weak legislative frameworks that govern these.

In the third and comparative part of this book, Adam Habib's chapter essentially draws on a frame for what is being referred to as the ‘New scramble for Africa’ (Sino-African relations) as he looks at how Western (mainly the US) relations with Africa steered by explicit ‘conditionalities’ guide China's pragmatic approach. According to him, the Chinese approach ‘may be informed by opportunism at times, but has given much relief to a debt-laden and poverty-stricken developing world, which has had structural adjustment policies imposed on it for far too long’ (p. 268). Concluding, the editors see African governments and policy makers moving along a trail which arguably represents the relocation of the centre of capitalism to East Asia, in effect challenging the ‘Washington Consensus’, which most African states have had to seek for economic resuscitation. In sum, most of the contributors recommend African governments to secure their national interests and not to trade them off in economic agreements with Beijing, while positioning the book as one that should stimulate a development discourse between Africa and China.

This compilation of essays presents an up-to-date account of a multi-faceted relationship. It offers a combination of a historical context of Sino-African relations, and also a more needed nuanced African perspective. In spite of the seemingly repetitive nature of some of the details in the country cases, the choice of these sub-Saharan African countries strategically points to China's expansive reach into the continent and, more importantly, the role it may play in shaping Africa's economic future.