China's Hu in Tanzania, offers lavish aid

By George Obulutsa

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao brought a 150 million yuan aid gift to Tanzania on Sunday on the penultimate leg of a tour intended to cement China's ties with Africa despite the global slowdown.

Met by trumpets and dancers on arrival in Dar es Salaam, Hu repaid the hospitality with a 120 million yuan aid package for mainland Tanzania and 30 million for the Zanzibar islands.

"The traditional friendship between China and Tanzania ... can be viewed as an exemplary relationship of sincerity, solidarity and cooperation between China and an African country, and for that matter between two developing countries," Hu said.

The Chinese leader, who has already been to Mali and Senegal, witnessed the signing of the aid deals with Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete.

Hu winds up his trip on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius in a carefully-selected tour of nations that rank outside Africa's economic and resource heavyweights.

Analysts say it is a deliberate message that Beijing, whose trade with Africa has shot up tenfold this decade to $107 billion last year, wants to engage right across the continent, even with smaller nations and in sectors beyond oil and mining.

The visit is also meant to reassure Africa that China will not ditch its new allies at a time of global economic slump.

Zanzibar officials said their portion of the aid announced on Sunday would be for IT and television services.