The Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation kicked off Monday. China has become Africa's primary choice of partner when it comes to foreign collaboration. China is Africa's  largest trading partner and invests actively in Africa.

Every time the forum is held, waves of comments can be heard by the Western media and politicians. But many of them are picking holes in China-Africa cooperation, venting sour grapes instead of reflecting on why the US and Europe's collaboration with Africa has dropped behind. The fundamental problem of Westerners is that they used to look down on Africa, treating the continent as US' and Europe's backyard. For them, Africa is not supposed to be the main part of the global economy and should be willing to accept its subordinate status and to meet the marginal needs of Western society.

But with the development of China-Africa cooperation, Africa has for the first time stepped on the stage of the global economy and become one of the main protagonists. African countries do not want to be enslaved to the outside world anymore. They want to be masters of their own destiny. The equality and mutual benefit of collaboration with China conform to Africa's wish and reality. The joint works with Beijing thus yield unusually brilliant results.

Some Westerners made up rhetoric about Chinese neocolonialism in Africa. They accused China of plundering resources in Africa and leading countries into a debt trap. But African countries are sniffing at such accusations. In terms of cooperation with China, African countries know best. Western media deliberately portray Africans in misery for collaborating with China and they appear to have discovered big news by finding occasional complaints in the African media about Sino-Africa cooperation.

One cannot help but say that the West seems like a loser covering up its own problems by cursing others' progress. The once-mighty West is not supposed to degenerate like that. China should not be led by the nose by Western public opinion. China-Africa cooperation is a huge success. It is a leap forward in China's economic diplomacy. While Western media describe Africa as a burden, China creatively positioned the continent as the new opportunity for the world economy. The success of the collaboration does not stem from China's expanding free assistance to Africa, but mutually beneficial cooperation.

The scale of China-Africa cooperation has become so large. Unilateral benefits can hardly support such collaboration's long-term functioning.

Africa is open. Attracting investment from all sides can maximize Africa's own interests. There is no way for China to monopolize cooperation with Africa. The possibility of the West leading the collaboration with the continent again always exists as long as they do not get their heads jammed by a geopolitical mind-set.