I AM PRIMARILY an energy specialist—not a China specialist—but these days it is impossible to think about energy, the Middle East, the future of Africa or just about anything without thinking long and hard about China.

Like everyone in the energy sphere, I have seen my world transformed these last few years by the surge in China’s demand for energy and other commodities. Many see China’s achievements in this area as the triumph of mercantilism: A foreign policy blindly driven by short-term commercial interests and divorced from any other consideration, be it human rights, good governance, democracy or environmental sustainability. But China’s advance is not without setbacks. Its very successes—especially in Africa—are generating a growing backlash that highlights the broader problems and limitations of its general "go-abroad" policy. As a result, Beijing is outgrowing pure mercantilism—and China is becoming a victim of its own success.

That China’s growth means accumulating not just leverage but also liabilities is particularly clear in Africa. Beijing’s advance there, eased by Western post-colonial neglect, has been especially rapid, but is now generating all kinds of adverse reactions. China’s African forays have benefited from several factors. First, unlike the West, China has no colonial baggage in Africa but is still generally perceived as a partner in growth and emancipation. A leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, China provided African countries with political support and development assistance (medical, educational and otherwise) during the postwar decolonization period. Today, Chinese corporations in Africa have government, economic and political support that tie resource deals, massive aid and development packages. These include cheap loans (some of which have been written off altogether by Beijing as part of a debt-forgiveness program) and massive infrastructure projects (roads, railways, ports, dams, etc.). Such loans and aid packages come with "no strings attached": They are free of the governance requirements, such as transparency and accountability, generally associated with aid measures from international lending institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. Instead, China professes to separate business from politics and to practice a policy of "non-interference" in the domestic affairs of foreign states. Sometimes aid includes a military component: Beijing has been a key arms supplier to the Sudanese junta, has provided Zimbabwe with military equipment to jam opposition radio programs during electoral campaigns and recently has begun to supply the Nigerian regime with arms to quash rebel militias in the Niger Delta.