Chinese loans go hand in hand with contracts. Econet got a loan from China recently and the contract to upgrade its network was given to ZTE, which edged out Ericsson.

About three years ago, Zambia also contracted a loan of $48 million from China for the improvement of the country's telecom sector through Zamtel with Huawei providing equipment and services. Last month, Zambia attracted $180 million from China for road upgrades.

ZTE officials in Zambia declined to comment on the matter. But Xinhua, the official Chinese News Agency, this week quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei as saying, "China hopes related parties will treat China-Africa cooperation in an objective and fair way."

Lei said China fully respects African countries' right to choose their development path, adding that China never imposes its will on African countries, nor adds political conditions to its aid to Africa.

The Zimbabwean government, however, contracted a loan from China last year whose conditions were that technologies and services must be purchased only from China. The Import and Export Bank of China provided the loan, which will be used, among other things, to connect the Zimbabwean fiber-optic network to the East African Submarine Cable System under the Indian Ocean in Mozambique.