Nerves are beginning to build as Chinese investment sees Africa turn away from the West

Wake up call: US national security adviser John Bolton has sounded warnings about Chinain

Mary Fitzgerald

For more than a decade, China has been expanding its influence in Africa at a rate that has raised eyebrows in Europe and the US. From forging bilateral relationships based on huge investment deals to building the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Beijing's engagement with the continent ranges from the predictable to the highly symbolic.