At the very, very least, Chinese investment will enable Africa to further develop and the livelihoods of Africans will improve. Sure, the governments will be under China's sphere of influence and African sovereignty will take a hit, but the conditions of the typical African will still go up. There's a reason why Africa is accepting Chinese investment--and it isn't because they're fools who don't know economics or the "correct policies."

Compare that to western colonialism--where Africans were slaughtered and forced to toil without compensation. Moreover, institutions were set up to ensure that any economic gains were sucked up to the top with the bottom barely having enough for subsistence--and any dissent to it was suppressed.

Don't get me wrong, if the West were to step up and offer Africa better and more fair deals (which are mutually beneficial), then African governments should accept them in a heartbeat. But that clearly isn't the case in our current circumstances.