China in Africa

Apparently according to Thomas Barnett, their approach is already backfiring? The money quote he pulls from the article: "China seems to have difficultly maneuvering in countries more democratic than itself." The link to the article in Foreign Policy can be found here.

Not surprising, but I'm skeptical that the backlash or concern at this point as great as has been suggested. Maybe it's just my cynicism, but I suspect that the autocracies, dictators and despots in Africa will continue to take whomever's money they can get their hands on. However it makes sense that more liberal societies of which there unfortunately are sparingly few, would be considerably more reluctant to China's approaches. Where I think China will feel the pain will be longer term, as they are seen to work with the despots, corrupt and dictators and risk being "remembered" - and that's not in a good way, as a result.