The Standard Bank of South Africa recently published an article that refutes criticism raised about China's presence in Africa by highlighting the economic benefits that have resulted from increased relations between China and African nations.

The article argues that economic development arising from Chinese-African relations has reached stunning levels of growth over recent years.

China has been consistently investing in Africa for a number of years, and has been effective in boosting economic growth across a number of African nations.

The article also argued that China has become an example for African nations looking to pursue integration with the global economy.

Admittedly, the activities of Chinese companies and investors in Africa have drawn international criticism, with some analysts raising concerns that China's interest in Africa is self-seeking rather than mutually beneficial.

Many other economic analysts have criticized China's reluctance to exercise political influence in Africa's so called "rouge states," while simultaneously investing heavily in such states.

Some have made comparisons between China's current role in Africa, and the history of colonization and economic exploitation in Africa, calling China's investment drive in Africa a kind of neo-colonialism.

But recent article from the Standard Bank of South Africa argues that such criticism contradicts basic facts and lacks fundamental knowledge of the situation.

The article argues that criticism of China's current presence in Africa fails to listen to what Africans themselves have to say about this new era of Chinese-African relations.

The article said that African businesses, and African people, have welcomed China's enormous aid and high levels of investment in the continent.

By developing a significant economic relationship with China, African nations have discovered a new way to interact with the rest of the globe, a relationship that, the article argues, often works to boost to local development rather than undermine it.

In closing, the article argues that China's involvement in Africa has been, and is still, fundamentally changing the path of economic and social development in Africa, and that the impact of such changes could only be objectively judged in the future.