Globalization has shifted the fortunes of states and established new patterns of political and economic interchange, with attendant challenges to traditional norms of development assistance and cooperation. Two Asian economic winners in the globalization game-Japan and Chinaare contributing novel paths of dealing with Africa that challenge traditional approaches to development assistance. This is positioning both states to contribute to our understanding of ways to address the development challenges of the continent that shifts from past preoccupations with humanitarianism to development cooperation that is modeled on partnership, African ownership and mutual benefit. This new focus purports to accord greater input to African leaders in determining their own development requirements, while extending Sino-Japanese rivalry to the African development cooperation space. Both countries have established intergovernmental linkages with Africa through special conference diplomacy with African leaders to discuss the process and content of cooperation-Japan's Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), and China's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). This article examines China's "go globalism" and Japan's post-reactuve state approaches to development assistance and cooperation in Africa, and assesses whether their systematic engagement with the continent affirms African agency in contrast to the old patterns of development assistance. The key question is whether the two actors are deviating markedly from existing norms of development cooperation. It concludes that it is too early to determine that the presences of the two states in Africa represent a paradigmatic shift in the norms of development cooperation on the continent.