Washington can do more than blaming China

African countries have reaped tangible benefits from their economic and trade cooperation with China. With no political strings attached, China has provided the continent with what it needs the most — funds, technology and infrastructure — which has helped boost economic growth, create jobs and improve people’s livelihoods.

Over the past 20 years, China has helped Africa build more than 6,000 kilometers of railways, 6,000 kms of highways, nearly 20 ports and more than 80 large-scale power facilities. China’s direct investment in Africa has increased by 100 times, and the Sino-African trade volume has increased by 20 times.

With the Belt and Road Initiative being embraced by a growing number of African countries and Chinese companies expanding their investment in medium- and high-tech manufacturing and healthcare sectors and the digital economy, besides the traditional energy and natural resources, China-Africa cooperation has entered a new stage that will further release the potential of Africa’s economic development.

The cooperation between China and Africa is beneficial to both sides, but it has become a thorn in the side of some in the West. Whether because of a zero-sum mentality or out of geopolitical considerations, some Western politicians call the loans China has extended to African countries as “debt traps”, and the cooperation projects China has launched in African countries as a means to plunder their natural resources or expand its influence.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has advised African countries to approach their relations with China “with your eyes wide open”, although he claimed “we’re not asking anyone to choose between the United States or China”.

Such divisive remarks are condescending, as if African leaders need telling what is best for their countries. With Blinken now on a three-nation tour of Africa, people there will be hoping for something more substantial than just empty advice and promises.

People in Africa are far more clear-minded about the path of development they have to take, since they have learned painful lessons from hundreds of years of Western colonial rule, which brought the continent nothing but poverty, disease, violence and chaos. In contrast, the fruits of Sino-African cooperation are self-evident.

Washington has for long talked the talk about helping Africa. Now is the time for it to walk that talk.