THERE has been much heralding of Africa's "spectacular" recovery from the global recession. The dynamo driving this change, we are told, is the continent's ties with China. I make no bones in arguing that these "ties" are more like chains and the continent will pay as ruinous a price for this latest abusive relationship as it did when it was in thrall to the old European empires.

According to Mthuli Ncube, chief economist with the African Development Bank, the continent will enjoy a growth rate of 4.5% in its economies this year. The bank expects more than 5% growth next year, then a return to the average of about the 6% Africa enjoyed between 2003 and 2008 before the recession bit.

"Africa is leading, believe it or not, global economic recovery in the sense of being such a strongly recovering zone compared, for instance, to Europe or the US," Ncube said. "If you look at the ranking, it's China, India, then Africa and then Brazil."

He has further predicted China will double its investment in Africa in the next few years, with the establishment of manufacturing parks likely to be the next big development.

It is too late to heed the chilling warning made by the former president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, who advised against allowing China's push for raw materials.

He claimed such a development could rapidly become a "new form of neo-colonialist adventure", with African raw materials exchanged for shoddy manufactured imports and little attention paid to developing an impoverished continent.

China's overall trade with Africa rose from $10.6bn in 2000 to $75.5bn in 2008. It is now Africa's second-largest trading partner after the United States, importing a third of its crude oil from Africa.

There is a notion that Africa needs the investment to rebuild its decrepit infrastructure. A World Bank report states: "The poor state of infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa – its electricity, water, roads and information and communications technology (ICT) – cuts national economic growth by two percentage points every year and reduces productivity by as much as 40%."

To close this infrastructure gap, an annual spending of $93bn would be required. But anyone who sees Chinese investment in Africa's infrastructure as altruism is dangerously mistaken.

Inviting China in to rebuild transport arteries so it can move the vital resources it is draining from Africa is like inviting Dracula to replace your heart valves so he can suck your life's blood more efficiently. This is a predatory and exploitative interest.

The Beijing dragon has no problem sitting down with the devil, and deals with every rogue regime in Africa providing the pot is rich enough. It supplies jet fighters, military vehicles and guns to Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ethiopia and other repressive governments. At the UN, China has used its veto power to block sanctions against tyrannical regimes in Sudan and Zimbabwe. It does nothing to stop the slaughter in Darfur.

Critics have raised concerns about a number of China's contracts. There have been claims that many were secured by bribery – by building, for instance, presidential palaces (Namibia, Sudan and Zimbabwe) and sports stadiums (Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea).

Many of the deals are murky and on barter terms dictated by China. For example, in exchange for oil exploration slots, China will rebuild Nigeria's dilapidated railway system. But China will supply nearly all the equipment and technical personnel at prices fixed by itself. There is no protection against overcharging or cost overruns. As with other projects in Africa, China will supply most of the workers. The potential for exploitation and plunder of Africa's resources is immense.

More troubling, China's involvement with Africa has blocked the continent's steps towards democratic accountability and better governance. The west has made its aid conditional on progress on these fronts. But since China attaches no such conditions, African countries receiving Chinese aid have little incentive to improve governance.

As far back as 2003, when the IMF suspended $2bn in aid to Angola, citing rampant corruption, China came to the rescue with a $2bn oil deal.

Like a big game hunter of old, Beijing has locked its sights on Africa's huge mineral reserves, underexploited farmland and a booming young population, and is moving in for the kill.

Trade and foreign investment have increased fourfold in a decade. But the continent's numerous problems – including entrenched poverty, political instability and an Aids epidemic – do not show up in the plethora of positive statistics. Nor does the fact that more than 30,000 children die every day in the third world.

In Ethiopia, where President Meles Zenawi secured 97% of the vote and another five years in office, steamrolling the opposition out of the way, or in Uganda, where President Museveni appears to have installed himself, Mugabe-style, as president for life, Beijing is happy to keep the chequebook open, blind to all political transgressions.

The Mandarins, it seems, are content to champion 'winner takes all' politics, so long as the winner is in Beijing.

John O'Shea is CEO of Goal