Between 2000 and 2007, trade between China and Africa leapt from €6.75 billion to more than €47.3 billion. China has now overtaken Britain and France to become the continent's second-largest trading partner after the US. Beijing hopes that trade will amount to more than €67 billion by 2010.
• Some 800 Chinese state-owned or state-controlled companies are operating in Africa, with China's Export-Import Bank funding more than 300 projects scattered throughout more than 36 countries.
• Angola is now China's largest supplier of oil.
• Last year, Xinhua, China's state news agency, estimated that more than 750,000 Chinese nationals are working or living in Africa.
• Last year, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) purchased a 20 per cent stake in South Africa's Standard Bank, the largest on the continent, for $5.5 billion (€3.7 billion).
• Reflecting the growing level of engagement, Chinese president Hu Jintao visited 17 African states during 2006-07 - more than any other head of state.
• The Africa summit in Beijing in November 2006 was the largest diplomatic gathering ever held in China.
• China has diplomatic relations with 49 of Africa's 53 states - Gambia, Burkina Faso, Swaziland and São Tomé e Príncipe are the only countries to still recognise Taiwan.