Chinese President Xi Jinping told African leaders on Friday his country would pump $60 billion into development projects, cancel some debt and boost agriculture under a three-year plan that will extend Beijing's influence in the continent.
Xi said China would not interfere in African countries' internal affairs, a stance that drew applause from leaders such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe who have faced Western criticism of their human rights record.
But China, too, has irked some Africans in the past for using Chinese firms and labor to build state-funded roads and railways in Africa while buying up commodities and leaving little for local economies, an image Xi is keen to change during a two-day conference in South Africa that ends on Saturday.