BEIJING - African leaders, in recent years, have pushed back against Western pressure and interference, but especially its claims about "the China threat," an opinion piece carried by the South China Morning Post, has said.

The article, published on Monday, noted that the White House's propaganda drive in Africa has been "a complete flop," saying China and Africa are natural partners, unlike the former Western imperial powers whose legacies of suffering, destruction and racism still harm the continent today.

It is pretty clear that "China in Africa" and the debt trap narrative are Western propaganda, a precursor to the current "China threat" narrative to justify the new cold war being waged by the West, led by the United States, it said.

The opinion piece also quoted Nigeria's former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as describing Western media and governments' preoccupation with the so-called "China debt trap" as an overreaction.

According to the former vice president, African nations are rightly unapologetic about their close ties to China. "China showed up when the West was not (willing) or is reluctant to show up."

"Africa needs the loans and the infrastructure, and the Chinese offer them. In any case the history of loans from Western institutions is not great," said Osinbajo.

The memories "of the destructive conditionalities of the Bretton Woods loans are still fresh and the debris is everywhere; and the preoccupation of Western governments and the media with the so-called China debt trap might well be an overreaction," Osinbajo added.