Zambia’s Copperbelt, an industrial hub set amid torrid African bush, is one of the world’s richest stores of the metal. During British rule the region formed the backbone of the colonial economy and served as a cradle of Zambian nationalism. In the 1970s Maoist China, in a mark of solidarity with southern Africa’s newly independent states, built the Tanzam Railway linking Zambia’s Copperbelt with the Indian Ocean ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

Today China – as an emerging economic colossus hungry for raw materials – is back in Zambia as a direct investor. Like past foreign patrons, the Chinese are taking no chances with their new prize.