Nairobi — The China-Africa Beijing Summit is the latest in a sequence of efforts at closer cooperation between Africa and Asia in the last 50 years. What makes this latest Asia-Africa dalliance markedly different in character and substance is the fact that is it being orchestrated by one Asian country, China.

Before considering the significance of this summit, it is worth putting the whole Asia-Africa dialogue in context. This dialogue can be traced back to the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in 1955.

That conference brought together 29 nations that represented more than half the world's population. Why did these countries, many of which were still under the colonial yoke, see a need for kinship and fraternity?

Precisely because they felt marginalised by the Western powers which not only controlled the destinies of these poor African and Asian countries, but also paradoxically, effectively ignored them as if they didn't exist.

Few people are aware of this 1955 seminal meeting. Yet the seeds of cooperation amongst the marginalised states that were sowed then ultimately resulted, six years later in the Non-Aligned Movement. So, in fact, opportunities for cooperation between Asia and Africa go a long way.

While the Non-Aligned Movement can boast more success, relatively speaking, in creating what Pandit Nehru called a third force in the spirit of neutralism, the same cannot be said of Asian-Africa cooperation.

One reason for that lies in their disregard for each other. For 50 years, they have issued declarations that evolve around abstract notions like mutual respect and mutual benefit, but little of this culminates in any real meaningful progress.

African countries have, up until fairly recently, also tended to ignore the East as they court their old colonial masters even as they profess their commitment to so-called neutralism. Mutual disregard also entails mutual ignorance about each other.

The upshot is that the gap in the world order has been yawning wider following the end of the Cold War and the failure of globalisation to deliver the economic dividend that Africa, in particular, so badly needs.

I have always maintained that there is more mileage to be gained by interacting with Asia than by treading the well-worn path to the capitals of the Western world. Countries like Kenya and South Africa have started to make fruitful inroads into the East.

In terms of purchasing power parity, China is now the second largest economy in the world, after the USA, although it is still rated as lower-middle income and 150 million of its people fall below the poverty line. It is expected to overtake the USA as the world's largest economy by 2020. Africa ignores China at its peril.

Which leads us to the quest what exactly do China and Africa hope to gain from this Beijing meeting? By all accounts, this is more than just another talking shop where leaders wine and dine, issue tautological statements and sign a bunch of business deals.

China is having to deny that this friendship is just another form of colonialism, and that they are only interested in Africa's raw materials. China's thirst for raw materials, especially oil, is on a scale that is totally unprecedented.

Africa is the answer. But what does Africa get in return? Development funds, loans, manufacturing technology and management skills. Trade is expected to top US$50 billion this year. But that trade is largely skewed in favour of China. Furthermore, China's investment activities in Africa haven't always been welcomed.

Besides the problem of unbalanced trade, the Chinese are accused of mollycoddling rogue regimes like the one in Sudan, and refusing to cooperate with the rest of the international community to pressure dictatorships to reform.

It remains to be seen whether China can play a meaningful role in facilitating change through a better form of engagement than the more aggressive approach favoured by the West which is seen as tainted by a neo-colonial mentality.

China's role as Africa's new economic partner will remain mired in controversy until China addresses two main concerns. First, it has to guarantee fair investment and trading terms for Africans who have bad memories of exploitation by Western nations and lending institutions.

Secondly, they must re-define and relax the quiet diplomacy dogma which is technically a surrogate for detachment while pursuing economic ends. Given the level of corruption and poor governance in Africa, this dogma is decidedly anachronistic.

Prof Kamoche teaches management in Hong Kong.