China's policy and national image building in Africa: A perspective on cultural communication

China, as its quest for a closer strategic partnership with Africa, has increasingly dynamic economic, political, and diplomatic activities on the continent. While China's more ambitious and complex Africa policy of today may in due course bring economical and political payoffs, some Western critics decry neocolonialism and others point to China's poor human rights record in Africa and its disregard for international frameworks for accountability. And Beijing faces the profound challenge: How to make a better interplay of China's Africa policy and building a preferable national image in Africa? The authors probe into the role of cross-cultural communication in China's national image building in Africa, analyzing the interplay of China's policy on Africa and its national image building in the region. They argue that only the convergence of China's rise in hard power and soft power, in particular, the rise of Chinese culture, all will presage a preferable national image of China in Africa.