China's increasing involvement in Africa over the last decade is a controversial and hotly debated issue, On the one hand, China has brought significant economic and political opportunities to the continent with large amounts of investment and infrastructure. While on the other hand, China's interests in Africa have been challenged as a form of neo-colonialism and support for authoritarian governments at the expense of human rights, the environment and good governance.

Comparing these two arguments, it shows that there is a lack of appropriate criteria with which to...