By Shapi Shacinda

LUSAKA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao faces a delicate task this week when he visits copper-rich Zambia, where anti-Chinese sentiment is riding high amid fears Beijing is moving to colonise the local economy.

Zambian officials say Hu's visit, which begins on Saturday, will spur trade and foreign investment and make Zambia a hub for China's economic expansion on the world's poorest continent.

"The visit is significant in that it will help to strengthen our relations and co-operation with China," Mining Minister Kalombo Mwansa told Reuters.

"It's also important because China is investing heavily in our copper mines, agriculture and manufacturing sectors."

But Zambia has also seen some of Africa's most public expressions of unease over China's growing power, with a riot at a Chinese-owned mine over pay and the main opposition party accusing the government of selling out to Beijing.

"They are out to colonise Africa economically and also to get Africa's solidarity at the United Nations," said Guy Scott, the general secretary of the opposition Patriotic Front, which narrowly lost elections last year after running on an openly anti-China platform.

"Unfortunately, we cannot stop them and they will get what they want from Africa because they offer governments money without conditions."

AVOIDING PROTEST

Hu's trip to Zambia dropped a planned stop in the Copperbelt region, apparently out of fears he might be targeted by protesting families of workers who died in a 2005 explosion at a Chinese-owned mine.

"There has been word that families ... wanted to demonstrate over what they have termed as meagre compensation they received from the Chinese government and they don't want to be embarrassed," an intelligence source said.

Zambian officials say overall the country is sure to profit from its relationship with China and are positioning the country to serve as a "base" for China's regional economic strategy.

To smooth Chinese and other foreign investment in Zambia's rich Copperbelt region, the town of Chambishi, 420 km north of the capital Lusaka, will be "declared a free economic zone" in step with Hu's visit, Zambian officials said.

The move would exempt firms operating there from some taxes.

Claims that more Chinese investment will create jobs and help modernise crumbling infrastructure ring hollow for some, including the Patriotic Front (PF).

While the PF failed to unseat President Levy Mwanawasa or his ruling party in last year's polls, it won considerable support around the country, due in part to its accusations that Chinese firms underpay and mistreat their Zambian workers

In July 2006 six miners were shot in a protest at the Chinese-owned Chambishi copper mine, an incident that led to criticism that Mwanawasa and his government were too close to Chinese interests.

Beijing has denied trying to exploit Africa, characterising its approach to the continent as one based on mutual assistance and shared development.

But the Chinese are clearly sensitive to the charges that they are following in the steps of the British, French and other colonial powers in Africa.

Liu Guijin, China's ambassador to South Africa and one of Beijing's top Africa hands, said Hu would be warning Chinese employers to stop "unwelcome behaviours" that have poisoned their reputation among locals.

"The Chinese companies in Zambia are really doing a nice job in creating jobs for the local people," Liu told a recent news briefing in Johannesburg.

"The new message from President Hu is that the Chinese government will firmly make future efforts to encourage Chinese companies to work hard to make more contributions to local development -- and to behave well."

(additional reporting by Andrew Quinn in Pretoria)

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