If the attitude of the Zambian workers at the giant Chinese-owned Chambishi smelter is anything to go by, Beijing should be rather concerned at the reception it faces in Africa. The smelter is at the heart of the first of five planned tax-free economic zones spread across the continent, which Beijing and the host countries hope will be a hub for Chinese investment in those regions. But this month in the latest Zambian manifestation of unease over the Chinese presence, hundreds of workers blocked the roads to the smelter demanding higher salaries and better ancillary benefits.

The strike, which ended this month, came in the wake of a series of difficult moments in the Chinese-Zambian relationship. Two years ago, more than 40 miners were killed in a blast in a Chinese-owned explosives factory at Chambishi, blamed on lax regulations. A year later, the giant 30-year-old Mulungushi textile mill, originally funded by Beijing in an earlier phase of Chinese interest in Africa, was forced to close after a flood of cheaper Chinese goods in effect strangled its business.