This paper is about the impact of increased Chinese engagement in Africa and the rhetoric it applies in winning the confidence of African leadership in the continent. It begins with reference to casual conversations and subsequent interviews with citizens resident in the city of Durban, who believe that they are direct casualties of cheap Chinese textiles, clothing and shoes that have flooded South African markets. The widespread impact of these products has led to prolonged unemployment, underemployment, and closure of manufacturing industries and retail businesses that have eroded the confidence of many South Africans ever acquiring long-term or permanent employment in any one of these sectors again. More widely, African leaderships in the continent tend to accept Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on Chinese terms, while the general population in each country continue to extend both caution and aversion towards their presence. What this demonstrates is that those most affected by the apparent commitment of China’s “non-interference in African countries internal affairs,” view this as sheer rhetoric. The paper connects these two issues together and concludes that in conjunction with working supportively with repressive governments, the very nature of flooding African markets with cheap Chinese textiles, clothing and shoes constitutes acts of interference in countries’ internal industrial and commercial activities.