An influx of workers from China is receiving a mixed reception in Africa, where people both admire and resent the hard-working newcomers

Awe at the efficiency with which Chinese build roads, run shops and manage factories is matched by unease at a growing Chinese presence in Africa's fragile labor markets. Delight at cheap shirts, toys and shoes sits aside concern at the undercutting of local retailers. The ambivalent response poses a potential risk to China's push to win hearts and minds in Africa, a priority for Beijing amid Western accusations that it is cutting corners on labor and human rights' safeguards in its African investment drive. Keen to address foreign investment sensitivities, African finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Mauritania on Aug 1, 2008 pledged greater transparency in their dealings with China and other new investors pouring money into the continent. They stressed the importance of developing local skills and industries beyond the extraction of raw materials. However, most African leaders show no reservations in welcoming the billions of dollars spent by China to gain African oil and minerals for its growing economy.