If China was still using Maoist policies we'd be talking about how they were put in an impossible position by Japanese, Russian, Indian, US and British aggression. Instead, they have allowed businessmen to flourish and everyone is grudgingly accepting that they are a new great power. Surrounded by wealthy neighbours who came out of WWII in terrible shape and just kept working hard, saving and accumulating capital.

Compare and contrast to Zimbabwe. Inflation at ~80%! Still printing money and refusing to let the economy stabilise. It'd be funny except the policy decisions have consequences for real people. They have had some handicaps. But their biggest problem is a refusal to abandon failed local policies.

I'm sure there are some success stories in Africa that will eventually show them all the way. But the success and failure have been primarily a result of their own choices for a while now. Just because foreigners are trying to destabilise a country doesn't mean they can't adopt growth-based policies. If Asia can do it, Africa can.

And even with that the Chinese are quite authoritarian. If they would liberalise a bit more they'd probably speed past the US too. There are a lot of low policy bars to clear before blaming problems on foreigners.

I don't think you can compare China to Africa. Just look at the borders of the different states of Africa - they come from a drawing board. That and countless CIA operations, colonization and century old hostility between different tribes. Vast rare earth resources, which are valuable for the West, make this an ongoing effort to exploit.