China surprised President Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Sept. 28 by promising to create an 8,000 strong standby peacekeeping brigade for use on the African Continent, which should reinforce its desire to be a responsible global power.

Through dams, grid construction, and renewable energy technologies, China is significantly helping to address sub-Saharan African energy shortages, and help improve livelihoods.

China and the U.S. share common interests but very different approaches in Africa. If the two countries can explore possibilities to realize bilateral security cooperation and work to maintain peace and stability in the continent, they can set the stage for a new type of major-country relations that rises about fierce competition.

Though 34 African countries are signatories to the Rome Statute, the continent now generally sees the ICC as a political organ that has “deviated from its original purpose”, exercising double standards and “only targeting African countries for case investigation and conviction”. The US exempts itself but demands compliance from the rest of the world.

A year-long “temporary” halt to ivory trade outside China is a hopeful, if symbolic, move to end attacks on elephants and rhinoceroses. A coalition of celebrities, politicians, and environmentalists put pressure on Xi Jinping to ban the import of ivory, but current regulations are flouted daily. The movement of ivory must be complete and permanent to fully stop the underground trade.

In 2015, much emphasis has been placed on a partnership between the African Union and China in order to accelerate the construction of the three major networks to help materialize the “century dream” of connecting all capital cities in Africa with high-speed railways. African economic integration calls for not only consensus and impetus from African countries, but also external investment to drive the process.

China and the African Union are partnering to help create a more connected continental infrastructure which would assist the development of Africa by breaking away from colonial linkages and the fostering of intra-African trade and well as Pan-African identities. The signed agreement hasn’t specified the infrastructure development plan, but it could prove transformational.

Promoting peace and stability in Africa, and strengthening security cooperation with Africa has been an important pillar of China-Africa cooperation in recent years.

A Chinese company has successfully developed a new anti-malarial drug, Artequick, and has begun testing its efficacy in the Comoros, a three-nation island with a long history of the parasite. Early positive results have excited researchers for the new medications’ ability to rid malaria in a host’s body, rather than target mosquitos.

China has now joined the United States and Britain in a long overdue effort to help reduce Ebola fatalities in West Africa. Together with Western efforts and funds, China may help end today’s scourge of Ebola, writes Robert Rotberg.