China's robust economic growth in the past 15 years has had an increasingly far-reaching influence on the country's relations with Africa, highlighted by the significantly expanding scope of economic cooperation and trade. From $10 billion in 2000 to $220 billion in 2014, trade between China and Africa has increased by 21 times. China's direct investments in Africa have surged from $500 million in 2000 to $32 billion in 2014, an increase of 63 times.

The last decade has witnessed the sustainable development of African economies with an average GDP growth rate of 5 percent, among the fastest worldwide. During this process, China has provided prominent impetus to the rapid growth.

The obvious ramp-up of Sino-African economic ties have raised concerns in many Western countries, which accuse China of exploiting or plundering resources from African countries in a new form of "colonialism."

It is true that China imports huge amounts of crude oil and other raw materials from Africa, but China is exporting industrial products to Africa. This is a typical way of doing business in international trade. From the economic perspective, natural resources are only valuable when they are transacted in the market. Competition between powerful buyers can benefit resource importers as the price of resources can be easily lifted. China has never considered being manipulative and dominant in Africa's economic lifelines and politics. On the contrary, China's Africa policy is oriented on South-South cooperation and calls for reciprocity on an equal footing.

China does business with Africa in the same way the US and Europe do. There is no statistics to prove China forces prices down, and China's imports of natural resources from Africa are no more than those of Europe and the US.

Africa looked to the West for a successful mode of development for five decades, but it turned out to be a failure. What the West offered is the Washington Consensus, inducing and demanding African countries, by carrot and stick, to adopt Western standards in building political and economic systems in exchange for financial aid.

However, this mechanism of interactions left Africa in severe political, economic and social crisis, and was gradually abandoned by African countries. Now Africa is looking to the East, and through several mechanisms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the bilateral ties have been developing at a fast pace.

The West's relative decline in Africa is an opportunity for Chinese companies to expand their business on the continent. Trade, investment and infrastructure establishment are the three engines driving China-Africa relations fast. Africa's economic growth is much more greatly generated by itself instead of by financial funds from the West. Sticking to the principles of equality and pragmatism, China has contributed a lot to the infrastructure, medical care, education and housing of many African countries, through which China's soft power and leverage have been enhanced.

Investing in Africa is a strategic choice for China as Chinese firms need to head overseas and China needs to re-orientate itself in the global architecture. The cooperation between China and Africa is benefiting African countries both physically and mentally. China's successful experience in Africa should induce retrospection of the Western world instead of moral judgment against China.

The argument about China's neo-colonialism in Africa reflects negative and defensive thinking, which mirrors the mind-set of zero-sum game. Instead of focusing on Africa's development, the West observes China's leverage in Africa from a geopolitical perspective. However, in Africa, the so-called "neo-colonialism" is actually a brand-new opportunity for growth and development. According to the Pew Research Center in 2015, 70 percent of Africans welcome China's investment, which means China is playing a positive role in Africa. Africa belongs to Africans, whose opinions about China matter the most.

The author is an associate professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, and a research fellow at the National Academy of Development and Strategy. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn