This Daily Mail article is quite over the top:
In the greatest movement of people the world has ever seen, China is secretly working to turn the entire continent into a new colony.
Reminiscent of the West's imperial push in the 18th and 19th centuries – but on a much more dramatic, determined scale – China's rulers believe Africa can become a 'satellite' state, solving its own problems of over-population and shortage of natural resources at a stroke.
With little fanfare, a staggering 750,000 Chinese have settled in Africa over the past decade. More are on the way.
Strange how this statement about what "China's rulers" think is not supported by any specific quote or citation. Also interesting that the writer chose the word "rulers" at all, huh?
Moving on, in addition to lots of information on China's raw materials purchases and infrastructure projects (yes, most humans are aware of this already), we have this:
Confucius Institutes (state-funded Chinese 'cultural centres') have sprung up throughout Africa, as far afield as the tiny land-locked countries of Burundi and Rwanda, teaching baffled local people how to do business in Mandarin and Cantonese.
I don't believe that these are specifically part of any "Africa" strategy per se. These schools are being opened in a lot of countries. In any event, the negative side of teaching Chinese to people who are doing business with China is not explained in the article for some reason.
All over this great continent, the Chinese presence is swelling into a flood. Angola has its own 'Chinatown', as do great African cities such as Dar es Salaam and Nairobi.
Exclusive, gated compounds, serving only Chinese food, and where no blacks are allowed, are being built all over the continent. 'African cloths' sold in markets on the continent are now almost always imported, bearing the legend: 'Made in China'.
Wow, Chinatowns. Like the ones in New York and San Francisco? Maybe the Chinese are trying to colonize the East and West coasts of the U.S. as well. And gated communities where only Chinese food is served? I don't suppose this writer has been to Beijing or Shanghai recently to check out some of the expats here.
And then we get to what might be the crux of the problem for this particular journalist:
Almost 30 years ago, Britain pulled out of Zimbabwe – as it had done already out of the rest of Africa, in the wake of Harold Macmillan's 'wind of change' speech. Today, Mugabe says: 'We have turned East, where the sun rises, and given our backs to the West, where the sun sets.'
Despite Britain's commendable colonial legacy of a network of roads, railways and schools, the British are now being shunned.
I see.
For the record, there are some troubling aspects of Chinese foreign policy in Africa. It's a bit too realpolitik for my taste, frankly. However, I think some are using that "colonialist" label a bit too carelessly. Certainly this article fails to make a decent argument.