The New Battleground: U.S. vs. China in Africa | 1.4.25
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What prompted Biden's visit to Angola?
Joe Biden recently became the first sitting president to visit Angola, Africa. While there, the president promised more than $1 billion in U.S. assistance, aiming to strengthen relations in the region and combat China's presence there.
How is the U.S. responding to China's influence in Africa?
In this episode, we sit down with an expert on the region to discuss America's shifting focus in Africa and what it might look like in the new Trump administration. I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe, and this is a special edition of Morning Wire. Joining us now to discuss how the U.S. is approaching Africa is the head of Eurasia Group's Africa Practice, Amaka Onku. Amaka, thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you for having me.
So President Biden just made this first ever presidential trip to Angola and announced over a billion dollars in U.S. aid to that country. The U.S. has made several trips to Africa in recent years, largely to combat China's growing influence in the region. First, for our listeners, can you give us some background on China's presence in the region?
Sure. So China has had an Africa policy, a very kind of clear strategic policy, I would say, since the early 2000s. You can see some of the memes about how every Chinese foreign minister, the first trip was always to Africa for 33 years. The strategy was clear. It was in exchange for us getting resources. Oftentimes it was oil from these African countries. We'll finance large infrastructure governments. A lot of it was government to government financing, you know, Chinese companies, some state companies versus African governments. I wanted to build bridges, roads. And we will then also... sell lots of goods and services, but also the money that we're financing is effectively being used to buy stuff from us to build the bridges.
So that was a strategy from the African perspective. And this is kind of where you'll see we'll get to how I think it has now influenced how the US sees Africa. But from the African perspective, This was welcome because a lot of the traditional sources of funding, the World Bank, U.S., Western partners were not financing big ticket infrastructure projects.
What is the significance of the Belt and Road Initiative?
A lot of funding from the West was going towards more micro health care, democracy promotion, education, things like that, and not the things that some governments thought were critical for economic competitiveness.
Got it. And what you're describing is called the Belt and Road Initiative. Can you unpack that a little bit more for us?
Yes, it's a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is a global initiative that you could argue is a tool for soft influence for China. And often, if you look at all the countries that are part of the Belt and Road Initiative, many of them fell in line with China's One China policy, you know, removed diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. So definitely a tool for soft foreign policy influence.
Sure. And how are these types of programs going? How is it actually playing out in terms of building infrastructure, et cetera, what they're supposed to be accomplishing? And how do citizens there feel about them?
I think it's a mixed bag. You know, when I was in Kenya, for example, for the summer, I took a Chinese finance train from Nairobi, the capital, to Mombasa, one of the main coastal cities. Every time I took it, packed. lots of people, clearly a very valuable economic connector in the country. But there's also criticism that it was very expensive. And there are other infrastructure projects that have not been as useful or were never finished. And there were in some cases where there was a lot of leakages, you know, collision between African officials and the Chinese counterparts that just meant that the money was wasted. So I'd say it's a mixed bag, frankly, like anything else, you know, really big picture the way I see it.
In the 2000s, China was the new kid on the block when it came to Africa. In the 1960s, the U.S. was the new kid on the block when he came to Africa. It was the new non-colonial power. And both of them made a lot of mistakes when they were the new kid on the block. In the 1960s, it was very controversial. When the U.S. came on the scene in Africa,
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What prompted Biden's visit to Angola?
0:03–0:17
2
How is the U.S. responding to China's influence in Africa?
0:17–2:23
3
What is the significance of the Belt and Road Initiative?
2:23–4:57
4
How do Chinese infrastructure projects impact African nations?
4:57–9:25
5
What are the implications of U.S. aid to Angola?
9:25
6
How does Africa's debt situation relate to China?
7:58–13:57
7
What role do rare earth minerals play in U.S.-China competition in Africa?
13:57–15:56
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Morning Wire
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