Chinese President Xi Jinping
WESLEY SEALE
The African tour of US secretary of state Anthony Blinken comes in the shadow of the third-highest ranking US public official deliberately undermining the sovereignty of another state.
Blinken defended the visit of Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taipei by describing China’s reaction as “extraordinary” and an “overreaction”. He is reported to have said it was a “peaceful visit by a member of (the US) legislative branch” and “many members of Congress visit Taiwan”.
Yet every other state in the world, except the US, understands a visit to Taiwan as a denial of the One China policy, UN recognition of the People’s Republic of China and therefore an onslaught against China’s sovereignty.
The irony of all this is that Blinken’s message to Africans, on his tour, is that we will respect your sovereignty and he wishes us to know that the US strategy in sub-Saharan Africa is about protecting the sovereignty of African states.
Africans should have little doubt that if the US and its officials have such scant regard for the sovereignty of China, it would care even less about the sovereign right of our states to make their own policies and the US would care even less about our territorial integrity.
Reporting on Blinken’s visit, The Wall Street Journal, on August 9, 2022, opened the article with the words: “The US won’t ask African governments to pick sides in an intensifying standoff with other powers such as Russia and China.”
The report continued that in a speech at the University of Pretoria, Blinken “said that African governments were free to make their own choices about who to support in the renewed competition with Russia, which has drawn comparisons to Cold War era battles for influence”.
For its turn, The Washington Post, reported on the same day that “a recurring message for the continent’s leaders: Washington won’t push you to choose between America and its global rivals, even as Russia and China make inroads across the continent”.
The Post went on to state: “African nation’s increasingly complex set of economic and political ties was apparent from Blinken’s first stop, where South African officials underscored their right to pursue their country’s core interests rather than following cues from larger, more prosperous states.”
Yet the US strategy for sub-Saharan Africa is all about China and Russia, and the US is simply trying to play catch-up. Professor David Monyae, the director of the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Africa-China Studies, highlights that between 2010 and 2019, Chinese investments in Africa have created more than 18 000 jobs whereas, on average, US investments over the same period yielded only approximately 12 000 jobs.
In 2021, Africa-China trade reached the historic milestone of $254 billion compared to Africa-US trade estimates at $64bn for the same year.
In 2013, the AU identified infrastructure as one of the greatest investments for the continent. With Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, Africa’s infrastructure gap has been narrowed, according to Monyae, by between $68bn and $108bn.
It is difficult for Africans to accept that the Biden administration’s message is any different to previous US administrations. This is especially the case when in recent times, US strategy towards our continent has always been about others and their interests here rather than us, as Africans, and especially when the US continues to go around defying the sovereignty of other states.
Seale has a PhD in international relations.
The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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