China gave Africa a $10 billion (£6 billion) helping hand at the start of a two-day summit expected to strengthen its position as a key player on the continent.

The Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, said his country was a true and trusted friend of Africa as he announced cheap loans to African states worth double those pledged at the last meeting in Beijing three years ago.

His speech at the opening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was peppered with talk of mutual understanding, friendship and development.

Mr Wen’s pledge comes as China’s economic links with African countries are growing rapidly. China overtook the US to become the continent’s biggest trading partner last year. Imports and exports were worth $106.8 billion in 2008, more than ten times their value at the turn of the century.

Chinese products, ranging from drugs to phones, plastic kitchenware to articulated lorries, are found everywhere on the continent.

Critics point out that China’s most valuable relationships are with oil producers such as Angola, Sudan and Nigeria or with mineral-rich countries such as Zambia or Democratic Republic of Congo. Oil accounted for 70 per cent of African imports to China last year; proof, critics say, that China is interested only in stripping Africa to supply its energy needs.

On the eve of the summit Mr Wen rebutted these arguments. “Energy co-operation is just one area. In no way has China come to Africa solely for its energy resources,” he said.

In this contemporary “Scramble for Africa”, China is the lead player.

Western human rights groups and officials say that China has shown little regard for human rights in its dealings with the more controversial governments in Africa.

China backs Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir (wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed in Darfur), has provided financial support to President Mugabe of Zimbabwe and last month signed a multibillion-dollar mining deal with the military junta in Guinea soon after soldiers massacred opposition protestors and raped women on the streets of the capital, Conakry.

China bridles at the accusations, and yesterday Mr Wen reiterated its policy of non-interference in the affairs of African states.

“The Chinese government and people have always respected the autonomous right of the African people to choose their own social systems. China’s support and aid for Africa has never and will never attach any political conditions,” he said.

China’s supporters point out that the West hardly has a glowing record in Africa from the days of the colonial carve-up to the fall of the Berlin Wall when, for almost a century, the US, Britain and others meddled in the affairs of African states with scant regard for the desires of African people.

Certainly China’s willingness to invest large sums in infrastructure is broadly welcomed in Africa. In recent years China has signed a number of multibillion-dollar deals swapping railways or roads for resources, it has built government ministries, schools and hospitals, offered military training exchanges and academic scholarships.

In Sharm el-Sheikh Mr Wen also promised to fund 100 clean energy projects such as biogas, solar and hydropower to help Africa to deal with the effects of climate change. He said that China would introduce zero tariffs on some African imports to encourage more two-way trade and offer bank loans to small businesses.

“China’s support for Africa’s development is real and solid and, in the future, no matter what turbulence the world undergoes, our friendship with the people of Africa will not change,” Mr Wen said.

He added that China would wipe out debts owed by some of the poorest African countries, as long as they have diplomatic relations with China, which means severing ties with Taiwan.

The last China-Africa summit in Beijing in 2006 sent a clear message to the world of China’s ambitions in Africa, with the offer of $5 billion worth of loans and credit to more than 30 African leaders who flocked to the Chinese capital.

With Mr Wen having already promised double this amount on the opening day of the summit, senior officials from 50 African countries represented in Egypt will be hoping to attract some of China’s largesse for themselves.

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