There's a lot of things pointing to China being less exploitative than Western trade, but it'd be nice if someone did a comprehensive analysis a la the Hickel study.

i made my wife dinner last night and i didnt even charge her for the service. isnt that just a bribe so she will continue to love me and snarf my dong?

Bribery and aid being used for closer relations are not the same thing. A bribe is under the table, this on its own is serving China's interests. They don't need to be slipped some resource extraction money secretly for this to be a good deal for them. It is a country that just kicked out the French and US, is threatened by Nigeria, has a left oriented government, a ton of natural resources previously dominated by western firms, and is in need of allies and arms.

If China gave them all of these free of charge with no expectation that is still a huge bargain for China. Even thinking cynically it is stupid to treat this as a bribe. Burkina Faso needs this shit, China benefits from breaking western hegemony

So you get bribed by your loved ones if they gift you stuff?

Lmao you have placed China in a no-win unfalsifiable position, a common sinophobic and anti-communist tactic.

China gives material aid for free: Chinese Bribery

China gives a cheap subsidized loan and even writes off tons of the debt: Chinese Debt Trap

China cooperates to build infrastructure: Chinese imperialism

Do you think socialism is when you huddle alone in a corner? Any and all interactions are being labeled by you as imperialist, when in fact imperialism is defined by asymmetrical extraction but everything China does is mutually consensual and mutually beneficial

Notice something in the first one? The involved ones got jailed by Ghana. China did not prevent them facing justice. Almost as if the state of China is not looting Africa.

The one named company in the second article is from HK, where the PRC has limited authority regarding stuff as that.

China is not utopia, but the PRC has shown time and time again their willingness to comply with local law. If one of its citizens does illigal shit somewhere, it let's the local authorities handle it and does not demand special treatment. A good example is your first link.

You may find the historical material realities of Ghana and Burkina Faso are drastically different as are their relationships with the “international rules based order” that determines legality and legitimacy in the eyes of the West.

Yes Chinese private firms often do shady shit, that's bad but it's also sadly part of the process with the Dengist strategy of using capitalist trade to develop productive forces so socialism can compete with the West.

Meanwhile the Chinese state provides a lot of aid to developing nations targeted by the west, like Cuba, Bolivia and several African nations. These do also benefit China by giving them more training partners but it's not purely extractive, their aid also helps them develop their own productive forces so their economies aren't purely based on resource extraction and export and so can they can more resilience against western sanctions. I can't find the video now for the life of me, but there is one out there of some western official trying to talk to an African politician about "Chinese imperialism" and the African guy is just like "when you come here we get lectures, when China comes we get a port".

Same.