China: The New IMF for Africa?

After returning back to my home of Hendersonville, nestled in the Appalachian mountains of Western North Carolina, I became acutely aware of the extent to which discussion on the "New Scramble for Africa" has permeated not only academic circles, but civilian discourse as well.   For those who aren't well-versed in the discussion, a recent article by Lord Aikins Aduesi written for the exceptional Pambazuka News Agency succeeds in outlining the broad contours of the argument.  Though he offers very little new insight into the general discussion of the topic of neo-imperialism in Africa, he does arrive at an interesting conclusion: that with the ascendence of China, Africa now has an alternative outlet to receive funding for development projects that will allow it to avoid its historically disastrous relationship with the IMF and World Bank.  While I wholeheartedly agree that the democratization of the development arena is a positive,  I recall an essay written by a colleague of mine at Yale by the name Channa Cummings, which questioned the extent to which China has become the "new IMF" for African countries.