By Lindsay Beck

SHANGHAI, May 15 (Reuters) - When China played host to nearly 50 African leaders in Beijing last year it sought to cement its friendship with the continent with promises on everything from tariff exemptions to tourism to training.

Six months later, as Shanghai welcomes delegates for the May 16-17 African Development Bank annual meeting, African nations want to see the results.

Analysts say that while China is showing a commitment to following through on its pledges, it is also being forced to wage a public relations war to counter criticism that it is ignoring labour and environmental standards and undermining local industries by flooding the continent with cheap goods.

"China is implementing very rapidly from its side," said Martyn Davies, director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at the University of Stellenbosch. He said its move toward fulfilling commitments made at the China-Africa summit was "very evident".

But with pledges to double aid by 2009, an offer of $5 billion in loans and credit, a doubling of Chinese government scholarships to African students and agricultural training, some delegates appeared snowed under by the sheer onslaught of China's approach.

"Its promises and achievements must be specifically monitored and reported on," said Ken Kwaku, a special adviser to former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa.

"There are so many initiatives. We don't know what the achievements are -- we don't know whether anything is happening at all," he said.

Much of China's follow-through is there, but analysts say the government's task is to make it visible to Africans.

"China's biggest challenge at the moment in Africa, it's realising, is to manage the PR of its involvement in the region," said Davies.

BOON TO CONSUMERS

Economists say some of the criticisms of China's engagement, particularly the impact of cheap Chinese goods on Africa's manufacturers, are misguided, pointing out that those goods are a boon to the continent's poor.

"Many Chinese products are well suited to the needs of lower-income households across many African markets," Standard Chartered Bank said in a report on Africa-China engagement.

"Chinese products tick two important boxes for these consumers: low prices and satisfactory quality," the report said.

Chinese officials are beginning to wake up to the idea that its companies need both to be on their best behaviour in Africa, and to challenge perceptions about their involvement.

"Some Chinese feel that African workers don't work hard enough. But Chinese should have a better understanding of the local situation," said Lu Bo, a deputy director at the Ministry of Commerce. "We must be more adaptive to the local environment."

With major oil investments in countries like Sudan, under fire in the West for its actions in the strife-torn Darfur region, and with its refusal to condemn international pariahs like Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe, China doesn't help its case.

But while no one is suggesting that its goodwill toward the continent is without commercial payoffs at home, economists say China's building of badly needed infrastructure and its buying of African commodities is having a real impact on Africa's growth.

That, said Razia Khan, Standard Chartered's regional head of economics, Africa, is sending a powerful message to other countries that have long seen the region as a write-off.

"Because of China's growth, and because of its interest in Africa, Africa is suddenly seen in a new light by investors, both domestically and internationally," she said.

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