. >> chinese policy to, and included economic cooperation for africa, is -- >> reporter: katsumi is a chief senior researcher at japan's institute of developing economies. he says china had the foresight to cash in on african natural resources. china is the largest trading partner for african nations. the country has been the biggest exporter to the continent for several years. it's now the biggest importer from the region, buying up mainly natural resources including crude oil. >> they built much of the rails and power stations. this kind of this kind of infrastructure building. and china is definitely the number one contributor for the building structures there. >> reporter: he says there is a downside. >> someone said this relationship with china is not so well, not so good for the future of the africa. because africa is just consumer of chinese product and africa is just exporter of natural resources. this kind of relationship is kind of opinion is also observed especially in africa. >> reporter: he says chinese leaders are well aware of the criticism and they've launched new measures to address the issue. >> they start financial support