China's oil import from Africa

China's oil important of 2004 was a staggering 120 million tons of crude oil. What is so interesting is the fact that 22% of this import came from Africa. Now this is something to be surprised. Why Africa? Is not it a bit too far from China? The main reason is that Chinese economy needs more and more oil to keep its terrific growth rate intact. So, China is only diversifying its source of getting oil and Africa is a good option in this regard. Africa is an attractive source of oil because many countries in the continent are poor and they would be more than delighted to see Chinese investment in developing their oil fields. Since, many African countries are plagued by civil wars, many western oil companies are not very enthusiastic to go and work there. For both China and Africa this is a win-win situation.
The only concern is that political and social instability is a constant companion of many Africa countries. If China becomes heavily dependent on African oil and if any serious turmoil arises in the continent then Chinese economy may suffer. However, political instability is a feature of the Middle East too and nobody seems to mind for it as long as they get the oil in time.