From his headquarters overlooking Mauritius’s breathtaking Indian Ocean coast, William Guo is about to embark on a project which will take China’s relations with Africa to a new level.

The 27-year-old representative of Shanxi Tianli Enterprises Group, a state industrial company from China’s Shanxi province, is in charge of transforming 211 hectares of sugar plantation into a commercial centre, which is set to become an offshore base for Chinese commercial activity in Africa.