China puts space-age seal on African role It would be hard to conjure up a grander gesture to mark the state of relations between China and Africa than the new $200m Chinese-built headquarters of the African Union. It has descended in time for this year's heads of state summit like a giant spaceship dominating the skyline in Addis Ababa, a symbol of modernity among the nearby shanty towns and unpaved roads that give parts of the Ethiopian capital the flavour of a village. "China, its amazing re-emergence and its commitments for a win-win partnership with Africa, is one of the reasons for the beginning of the African renaissance," said Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's prime minister, in his opening remarks to the summit. He was referring to the 12-fold rise in trade between China and the continent - to $120bn last year - that has accompanied a decade of accelerating African growth. "It is therefore very appropriate for China to decide to build this hall - the hall of the rise of Africa, this hall of African renaissance," the prime minister said. Not everyone present agreed with him. It was with a mixture of bemusement and awe that delegates explored their shiny new gift, completed like so many Chinese projects on the continent with extraordinary speed in less than three years. This should be a symbol of Africans pulling themselves up. But instead it looks like China is doing it for us," quipped one delegate. As much as anything, it shows what the Chinese are getting out of Africa as it does what they are putting in. The headquarters suggested, the delegate said, a fresh form of dependency evolving in the continent's relations with the outside world, as Africa shakes off the influence of jaded and cautious former colonial powers and embraces new commercial suitors from among emerging powers. The building also appeared to answer a question hovering over the AU as an institution since Muammer Gaddafi, the late Libyan leader, was killed in October: who will step in as the new patron of the frequently cash-strapped union? Evidently, it is the Chinese. The building, said Jia Qinglin, a member of the Beijing politburo who was heading a delegation hundreds strong, came with a Rmb600m ($94m) cheque and Chinese technicians to ensure its maintenance in coming years. Mr Jia reiterated China's oft-repeated doctrine of non-interference: "China will firmly support African countries in their efforts to uphold sovereignty and independence and resolve African issues on their own," he told assembled leaders. We maintain that all countries, big or small, are equal, and we are opposed to the big, strong and rich bullying the small, weak and poor. Three quarters of the AU's administrative costs are covered by Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Libya. But Europeans, who contribute the largest part of AU project finance, appeared comprehensively upstaged at this year's event. Overshadowed by a breakdown in talks between Sudan and South Sudan over oil, the two-day meeting, which ended on Monday, focused mostly on inter-African trade. As delegates sat down in the voluminous conference hall at the centre of the new building, they discovered some awkward details. On radio receivers delivering simultaneous translation, Mandarin occupied channel one. A joke circulated: the Chinese-made voting system had been rigged to deliver victory to Jean Ping, chairman of the AU seeking re-election, who as well as being Gabonese is half Chinese. It was not to be. While hundreds of Chinese officials seemed to offer a uniform vision of Africa-China relations as one of friendship, mutual interest and respect, Africa's 53 states were struggling to find a common voice. After a year in which the conflict in Ivory Coast and the Nato-backed rebellion in Libya split the continent, neither the South African candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, nor Mr Ping could garner enough votes to secure the position of chairman. In defiance of the normal rules, Mr Ping will stay on in his current role until the next summit in six months. "The AU needed a new headquarters to work from," said Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank."It would have been a good idea to build one ourselves, but there are many other competing uses for our resources."