China Intentions Laid out in Canvas and Captured on Lens by Lintao Zhang of the AP on Sept. 22 2013 at the Great Hall of the People

Maduro in China | Photo by Lintao Zhang/ AP

I came across this photo that might illustrate China's intentions. In official policy documents and in my interaction with Chinese activities and actors in Africa China I have heard of the harmonious coexistence narrative

So is the peaceful rise Beijing seeks to illustrate true?
Well, there is a whole debate on that with American watchers and Chinese analysts embraced in controversy as to what this exactly means.

1. Peaceful Rise of China: Myth or Reality? by Jianyong Yue
2. China’s “Peaceful” Rise? By Joseph S. Nye
3. Review of When China Rules the World by Martin Jacques by Michael Rank

Given that events in China are clearly choreographed one can come up with the conclusion that the above mural was not mounted in the Great Hall of the People by accident.