China based its relations with Africa on the five principles of peaceful co-existence13 and the eight principles for foreign aid,14 the latter which Premier Zhou enunciated throughout his Africa tour. These official principles cemented China’s stance of non-interference in internal affairs, which differentiated it from the West. Chinese leaders launched the popular notion of China as the world’s largest developing country and Africa as the continent with the largest amount of developing nations. Their common features also included a history of having been oppressed by colonialist powers.