The second three-day U.S.-Africa Summit opened in Washington, D.C., and was invited by leaders from dozens of African countries and the African Union (AU).
This is also the largest international conference held in the United States since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.
The last U.S.-Africa summit was convened in 2014 by then-U.S. President Barack Obama.
After eight years, why does the United States think of Africa again?
Some American media have given the answer: the rapid growth of the population, abundant resources and the large number of seats in the United Nations determine that Africa is of great importance to a global power like the United States.
Screenshot of the Associated Press report
Busty promise, skinny reality
To this end, the White House intends to demonstrate the "interest and commitment to Africa" of the United States through a series of actions:
Discuss how to strengthen the U.S.-Africa partnership to address "common challenges" such as pandemic, climate, and food security;
pledge $55 billion over the next three years in Africa for "a wide range of areas";
Announces support for the African Union as a permanent member of the G20;
US President Joe Biden is expected to announce before the end of the summit that he will visit many African countries next year;
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Drawing a pie before things are done is indeed in line with the consistent style of the United States.
But African countries have not forgotten how the United States has treated them over the years.
In terms of policy toward Africa, recent U.S. administrations have been capricious:
As the first African-American president of the United States, Obama played the "family card" against Africa during his term of office and held the first US-Africa summit. His Power Africa initiative promised to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity in Africa by 2020, but by the end of 2020, less than a quarter of the promised electricity was generated.
Screenshot from the New York Times website: Obama toasts at a White House dinner during the first U.S.-Africa summit
Trump has completely changed his face since taking office, not only has he never visited Africa during his term of office, but he has also sharply reduced aid to Africa, and even called African countries "dung pit countries" at an internal meeting in early 2018, which attracted unanimous international condemnation.
The government in Botswana, an African country, criticized Trump's remarks as racist and should be condemned.
In the Biden administration, seeing that Africa is achieving economic take-off and political rise, it has seriously lagged behind in relations with Africa, so its diplomacy with Africa has heated up significantly, and it has taken frequent actions this year, including the release of the "US Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa" in August. However, although Africa has been paid attention to, its actions are still mirrored.
Cover of the U.S. Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa report published on the White House's website
The New York Times op-ed said that the continent's increasingly prominent new advantages in population, market, resources and other new advantages have changed the tone of non-US relations, but it is not clear whether this US-Africa summit will fulfill the "importance" of the United States to Africa.
The article quoted Mbet, a political scientist at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, as saying that while the Africa-US summit is an opportunity for Africa to deal with the United States as a bloc, the success of the meeting depends on whether the United States is willing to engage with Africa on a truly equal footing, rather than "acting as a teacher who tells countries what to do."
Screenshot of the New York Times website
Judging from the actual performance, what the United States has done over the years has made African countries chill:
They will not forget that at the height of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the United States announced its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, stopped paying dues, and while hoarding a large number of vaccines while refusing to join the global vaccine implementation plan, the shortage of epidemic prevention materials in Africa became more prominent.
They will not forget that at a time when climate change is disproportionately affecting Africa, the United States and Western countries, which have long pledged to finance adaptation to developing countries, have so far failed to deliver on their aid payments in full, and have ignored African countries' calls for "loss and damage" compensation. What's more, under the energy crisis, the United States and the West have also engaged in "double standards", while buying fossil energy everywhere, they urge African countries with the least carbon emissions to reduce emissions.
According to data released by the UK's energy research agency Carbon Brief, the United States should provide $39.9 billion a year in climate aid based on historical carbon share terms, but only $7.6 billion in 2020, accounting for only 19% of the share and the least contribution of the 23 relevant developed countries.
They will not forget that the United States hyped up the "debt trap" conspiracy theory while keeping silent about the fact that Western commercial creditors and multilateral institutions are the largest "creditors" of developing countries, while also increasing Africa's debt burden through crazy money printing and interest rate hikes.
The United Nations Development Programme warned in October that a serious debt crisis was spreading in the poorest parts of the world, and that 54 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, that accounted for more than half of the world's poorest people, needed immediate debt relief.
"We need American support, but we don't need American institutions"
The Biden administration says it wants to bridge the widening trust gap with Africa, but it is difficult for the United States to believe that the number one power that has never cared about Africa is sincere in helping African countries develop.
From the arrangement of this US-Africa summit, we may have a glimpse of this: the United States did not invite all African countries to the meeting, and US President Biden did not have a definite plan to hold bilateral meetings with any African leaders during the meeting.
Canada's "Geopolitical Monitor" website is titled "U.S.-Africa Summit: Is Biden Serious About Africa?" According to the article ", the information provided by the White House shows that Biden did not arrange bilateral meetings with any of the African leaders attending the meeting, nor did he invite the leaders of Western Sahara, Eritrea, Somaliland, Sudan, Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso to attend.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle, Ghanaian economist Daniel Amatel Arnim stressed that helping Africa's development should be a priority for the Africa-U.S. summit, "It should not just be a question of who is invited." We need to tell Americans that we are ready to do business fairly with them."
Kenyan political analyst Martin Andati also argued in the interview that African leaders should not attend the Africa-U.S. summit as "beggars", but "build a partnership that can create a win-win situation."
Screenshot of the report of the Deutsche Welle website
In fact, many public opinions are not optimistic about the prospects of US-Africa relations, after all, the "America First" style of "using faces forward, not facing back" and "burning others to illuminate themselves" is difficult to change, and American-style diplomacy oriented by "value alliance" is firmly resisted by African countries.
African Union President and Senegalese President Machi Sall stressed to The New York Times before the summit that African countries "don't want anyone to tell us 'don't work with so-and-so, just with us,' we want to work and trade with everyone."
Screenshot of the New York Times website
Qatar's Al Jazeera quoted Mwemba Fizo Dizolet, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S.-based think tank, as saying that the United States entered the summit with a "trust deficit" and that "it was an opportunity to show African countries that the United States is really willing to listen to them... But the question is, how will it be different now than before? ”
Screenshot of the Al Jazeera website report
The Associated Press opinion piece said the White House wants to narrow the widening trust gap between the United States and Africa through the U.S.-Africa summit. But the more U.S. has committed over the years, the more disappointment Africa has.
Abraham Nion, a political scientist at the University of Juba in South Sudan, was quoted as saying that "Africa still sees the United States as a superpower, but most African leaders do not want to align everything with the United States" and that "we need American support, but we do not need American institutions."
Screenshot of the Associated Press report
Source丨Global Information Broadcast "Global Deep Observation"
Planning丨Wang Jian
Reporter丨You Jia
Editor丨 Yang Nan
Signed for trial 丨 Wang Jian
Source: Global InfoBroadcast