Chinese NGOs reach out to African countries

However, every coin has two sides. The advantages can easily turn into disadvantages. Wu Peng, director of the International Development Department of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, said that the young civil society in China can also means inexperienced NGOs.

"We haven't been engaged in international relations as long as Western NGOs. Western NGOs have been in Africa for 10 or 20 years. We don't have local contacts, we don't have enough talented people qualified to work overseas and we know nothing about running a project in Africa," Wu said.

Four years ago, China surpassed the United States as Africa's biggest trading partner. Bilateral trade between the two sides has grown from $10.6 billion in 2000 to around $220 billion last year.

More Chinese companies now consider Africa as an ideal investment destination, said a 2011 report from China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

The report said that the number of Chinese companies investing in Africa has sharply risen and out of the $59 billion outbound direct investment that was invested abroad in 2010, 22 percent was invested in Africa. The strengthening business ties have prompted an increasing number of Chinese corporate donors, which are eager to give back to local communities after years of doing business in Africa.

Liu Hongwu, director of the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, said Chinese companies are the biggest financiers of charity projects in Africa.

Chinese businesses in Africa have enacted the role of NGOs, especially in terms of making a difference in local communities through their corporate social responsibility projects.

Hainan Airlines has been helping cure cataract patients in Africa since 2010, one year after the Shenzhen-based airliner opened its Beijing-Dubai-Luanda route.

The program called China-Africa Brightness Action is sponsored by Hainan Airlines and Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group with help from doctors at the Beijing-based Tongren Hospital. The project, originally started in China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the strong sunlight results in millions of cataract patients, has cured more than 2,000 patients in Africa.

"When we entered Africa, we found that many African people suffered from cataract, which can be easily cured once you have doctors and medicines. So we decided to extend the project to Africa," said Li Xianhua, chief executive of Hainan Airlines. "We know we can't put money on top of our agenda; we also need to shoulder more responsibility and give back to local people."

According to Li, the company has invested 25 million yuan in the African project and the carrier would extend further assistance by sending a team of Chinese doctors to Africa in May.

Hainan Airlines is no exception. Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation, two high-tech giants in China, have also undertaken various corporate social responsibility projects in Africa.