The only info I am getting is that an African Diplomat said it but nothing else. I want to use it for the Xi Jingping section of my research paper for Political Science, I think it would add a nice bit of “flavour” for introducing the topic of Chinese relations with African states.
Well if that’s an apocryphal like other comments suggest better just dig The Dragon’s Gift and everything the author had said so you can find a better sourced quote!