US hits at ‘predator’ countries
Russia, China accused of underhand tactics on African continent
Donald Trump’s administration has vowed to counter China and Russia’s “predatory” practices in Africa, announcing a new strategy for American engagement with the continent.
John Bolton, the White House national security adviser, on Thursday warned that those countries were “deliberately and aggressively targeting their investments in the region to gain a competitive advantage”.
Bolton especially singled out China, which he accused of wielding “bribes, opaque agreements and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands”.
There was also a warning that America could pull support from some United Nations peacekeeping missions if they were failing to secure long-term peace.
The new strategy, dubbed Prosper Africa, was outlined by Bolton in a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank, in Washington DC. It comes with Trump’s administration openly stating that geopolitical rivalry has returned in full on the international stage and that Russia and China must be countered in the coming years.
There has been sustained investment from China into Africa, with the country becoming that continent’s top trading partner nearly a decade ago and pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure projects.
China’s apparent attempt to deliberately build up economic ties to Africa has been viewed by critics as an attempt to increase its influence in the area.
The US and China, an emerging superpower, have clashed repeatedly during Trump’s presidency. Bolton, US ambassador to the UN under former president George W Bush, is a renowned foreign policy hawk and has been fiercely critical of the UN in the past.
He warned in his speech the US was willing to scale back its support of UN peacekeeping missions that did not bring about long-term peace. “We will only back effective and efficient operations, and we will seek to streamline, reconfigure or terminate missions that are unable to meet their own mandate or facilitate lasting peace,” he said.
Bolton also suggested the US would seek closer financial ties to Africa, saying: “We will encourage African leaders to choose highquality, transparent, inclusive, and sustainable foreign investment projects, including those from the United States.”
Jennifer Cooke, director of the Institute for African Studies at George Washington University, said the US should avoid trying to be too transactional.
“We are not going to beat China at its own game, which is massive investments in infrastructure and roads, ports, railroads and vanity projects,” she said.
“What sets the US apart has been a broader engagement, beyond government, looking at development, civil society and, frankly, serving as something of a moral authority on human rights, democracy and governance issues.” –