Editor’s Note

Africa has become one of China’s most important energy sources. Nowhere on the continent is this more evident than in Angola, China’s second-largest oil supplier, trailing only Saudi Arabia.

According to Chinese customs data, Angola’s oil exports to China increased to 40 million tons last year from 16.2 million tons in 2004. China’s state-run oil companies, mainly Sinopec Group, have won a number of drilling concessions. The country’s oil fields now account for 16 percent of all foreign crude shipped to Chinese refineries.

In exchange, China writes loans and builds infrastructure. Chinese enterprises have undertaken infrastructure projects ranging from highways and railroads, to airports and public housing. Non-Chinese media outlets say about 70,000 Chinese laborers have worked at Angolan construction sites.

Lubricating deals between China and Angola is a small group of deal brokers headed by Hong Kong-based Sam Pa and Lo Fong Hung. They’re at the core of concerns called China International Fund (CIF) and China Sonangol, CIF’s joint venture with Angola’s state oil company Sonangol. In these capacities, they’ve demonstrated unparalleled power.

CIF’s activities have attracted critical attention from various researchers. In 2009, British foreign policy think tank Chatham House and the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission began in-depth studies of the Pa and Lo’s dealings to clarify CIF’s mysterious background and vast influence. An August 2010 report in the Economist magazine gave the CIF-Angola connection wide exposure.

Reporters at Columbia University’s Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism started looking into CIF and its various business ventures around the world last year. They recently completed the probe, and the center has given Caixin exclusive permission to publish the investigative team’s just-completed report in this edition.

Meanwhile, Caixin reporters conducted and completed a parallel probe in Beijing and Hong Kong that traced CIF’s controversial activities in Angola, as well as its links to the Chinese government. Portions of this report, which likewise appears in this edition, were based on a previously undisclosed Ministry of Commerce study with surprising conclusions.