Some unidentified kidnappers released the nine Chinese oil experts who were taken hostage in Nigeria last week, according to a news report. The details such as the circumstances under which they were hijacked and the identity of the kidnappers were not given in the report. There is, however, every reason to suspect that the incident was an indication of the emerging struggle for the domination of the oil market in the African continent.

Though this was only one of the incidents that frequently take place in a region battered by the violent clashes between the rulers and the ruled, a striking aspect of it was that the victims were Chinese. They were workers in the oil industry, a fact that points to China’s increasing interest and presence in the African oil fields.

The Chinese presence in the oil sector in Nigeria has a special significance in that it indicates the beginning of the struggle for African oil by leading industrial powers. The African oil fields produce 9.8 million bpd crude oil, which is 12.3 percent of the total world oil output.

It was widely believed until recently that the Chinese interest in Africa was limited to the huge consumer markets with its low-priced products affordable to the poor African population.

It was in 1972, to be precise, that China began its forays into the international markets in an aggressive way. Terrified by the Chinese potentials, the United States attempted to keep China under control by granting it the most-favored status in the US markets on the one hand and adopting an intimidating posture against human rights violations in China on the other. The US also attempted to mount pressure on the emerging Asian giant by supplying advanced weaponry to its rebellious neighbor Taiwan.

Despite all the counter strategic moves adopted by the US, China succeeded in forging ahead with its economic schemes in Africa. A summit meeting to promote Sino-African cooperation was held in Beijing in November 2006. The summit, which was considered a major breakthrough for the country in conquering more foreign markets, served as a springboard for China to hold exhaustive bilateral talks with the African states. Meetings at the ministerial levels have been held since the spring of 2000 with the aim of exploring the possibilities of friendship and cooperation between the two parties against the backdrop of increasing upheavals in the world, particularly to meet the challenges let loose by the globalization. To top the emerging power’s strategies of strong relations with Africa, China’s President Hu Jintao recently toured various African countries such as Cameron, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique.

While in Zambia, President Jintao announced the Chinese plan to invest $800 million in the copper mines in that country and write off Zambia’s debt of $7.9 million. The president also offered an advance of $150,000 to reconstruct the Zambian villages, which were devastated by the recent floods.

It is interesting to note the release of the Chinese hostages in Nigeria coincided with the visit of Jintao to Zambia.

The Chinese efforts to get a strong hold on the African petroleum should be viewed in the background of the vast US interests in the oil fields in the African continent.

Experts on oil market have noted recently that the Chinese efforts to expand its oil import from Africa are likely to increase. It was Angola that first supplied oil to China early last year. In fact the Angolan supply to China was more than the Gulf countries shipped to it and more than its supply to the US.

In any struggle between China and the US, the US is likely to lose because with the uncompromising neocons at the top echelons of the White House, it will fail to win more friends while China has been acquiring more and more friends in Africa and elsewhere.