Guide
The United States recently released its latest strategy for Africa during Secretary of State Blinken's visit to Africa, but the strategy is based on competing with China for influence in Africa, rather than a real concern for Africa's development. In contrast, China and Africa have carried out fruitful cooperation in various fields under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, which has effectively promoted Africa's development. African countries welcome China-Africa pragmatic cooperation and remain vigilant against the provocative behavior of the United States.
Author: Gert Grobler, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, Former Senior Diplomat, Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa
Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made his second visit to Africa. During his visit to Africa, the U.S. State Department issued a document outlining U.S. strategy for sub-Saharan Africa.
It is not difficult to see that the goal of Blinken's visit is to reposition the relationship between the United States and African countries in order to successfully advance the strategic goal of Africa. Although Biden has repealed some of former President Trump's decisions since taking office, his policy changes toward Africa have struggled to dispel African leaders' doubts about U.S. reliability.
In fact, the United States has never really developed economic and diplomatic relations with Africa on the basis of mutual benefit, nor has it developed a reasonable trade strategy. As a result, some African experts still believe that it is difficult for Africa to accept the message that Blinken conveyed during his recent visit, because the focus of the Us side is clearly on countering China's influence in Africa.
Image source: China Daily
The deepening of China-Africa economic cooperation, the increasingly close security cooperation, and the high-level diplomacy of high-level diplomacy, represented by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, have consolidated China's influence in Africa.
The U.S. strategy document also contains other issues of critical importance to Africa, such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The biden administration decided to "discuss with Congress the future development of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which expires in 2025," the document mentions. However, Blinken made no promises about whether the Biden administration will extend the validity of the bill, let alone let it continue to be the cornerstone of future U.S.-Africa relations.
During his visit to Africa, Blinken mentioned several "U.S. initiatives," including the "Prosperous Africa" initiative, which promotes the U.S.-Africa bilateral trade and investment partnership, and the "Rebuild a Better World" initiative and the "Global Infrastructure and Investment Partnership" initiative launched by Biden and the Group of Seven (G7) at the G7 summit in Germany in June.
Image source: China Daily
In short, no matter how much the United States expands its engagement with Africa, any move aimed at curbing China's economic diplomacy toward Africa is doomed to failure.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, China's investment contribution to Africa has been expanding, and African countries have warmly welcomed it and regarded China as an opportunity to promote Africa's economic growth and development. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative have brought tangible benefits to Africa. With a good foundation for cooperation before, China has a huge advantage over the United States.
At the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in Senegal in 2021, China and Africa announced the implementation of the "Nine Projects" of health, poverty reduction and agriculture, trade promotion, investment-driven, digital innovation, green development, capacity building, people-to-people exchanges, peace and security, injecting new momentum into China-Africa cooperation. Under the framework of the "Belt and Road" initiative, China and Africa have jointly promoted the implementation of many pragmatic policies and projects such as infrastructure construction in Africa, and will continue to actively promote them.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
China has become one of the most important partners and contributors to Africa's economic growth and development, and in this regard, the United States can hardly match it. In 2021, bilateral trade between the United States and Africa fell to about $64 billion, compared with about $254 billion in the same period.
China-Africa relations have endured, and Africa is concerned about the deliberate provocations and destructive practices of the United States against China. Both Africa and China believe that the United States should change its Cold War mentality so that the world's two largest economies can work together to provide support and assistance to vulnerable states and contribute to global economic recovery.
Image source: China Daily
Editor-in-charge | Song Ping Luan Ruiying
Edit | Zhang Zhao
Interns Sun Shan, Zhang Miaoyao and Yang Hengrui also contributed
Pay attention to the WeChat public account "China Daily China Observation Think Tank" directly to the past selection