Editor,

Reference is made to Kenneth Agutamba’s article, "Why China’s love for Africa is not for granted” (Sunday Times, May 18).

I entirely agree; there's simply too much hullabaloo and sensationalism about the Chinese in Africa. We need to keep this in mind. I am glad you point out two of them here; trade among African countries is very important—we can't keep looking far and ignoring nearby opportunities.

If we could only trade more amongst ourselves, the benefits from China would be secondary to home trade and this is what we should be targeting. Over-relying on China, another developing country, to me is even unfair to China.

We can emulate what the Chinese did by turning around our economies but we can't do so when we are waiting for handouts from them; the Chinese should not give us fish, they should teach us how to fish.

That way, Africa shall rise.

Justus Kaberuka, Rwanda

 ***************************

I am forever amazed at the sentimental frame within which Africans see international relations. China is not engaged with Africa for emotional reasons but out of pure practical interest: a source of critical natural resources to drive its insatiable and fast growing industries, an important and growing market for its industries' output and its expanding services trade, and partners in its rising geopolitical competition with the West.

There is nothing wrong with the fact that China's African policy is driven by pragmatic naked self-interest rather than the nonsensical abstraction called love which, unlike individuals, nations don't feel.

That is what should similarly drive African countries' relations with China or any other country. The trick is how best to derive the maximum benefits from any interaction with each and every foreign country, and check sentiment at the door marked 'Foreign Relations'.

Unless Africans learn to recognise the unsentimental nature of international relations, including economic relations, we shall remain naive and therefore ineffectual actors on that plane and thus easily exploited by those who falsely claim to be more concerned by our own welfare than we ourselves or their rivals and competitors.

No country loves you; neither they nor yours can experience that quintessentially individual human feeling. China, like any other country, can only be interested in the benefits it can derive from our resources, markets and collective political weight. And so should we.

Mwene Kalinda, Rwanda