(PresidentialHill.com)- On Monday, the Biden administration announced $55 billion in economic, health, and security aid for African countries did not garner much praise from Chinese state media.
Chinese editorial writers scoffed at the Biden team’s attempt to match China’s growing sway on the continent by throwing some cash around, especially given that American aid comes with many human rights restrictions.
According to China’s state-run Global Times, the $55 billion giveaway and week of meetings with African leaders were nothing but a desperate attempt to counter Beijing’s expanding African footprint.
According to an article in the US Foreign Policy, Team Biden wants to court African nations without talking about Beijing. But on the first day, this was broken. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin claimed that China was “destabilizing” the continent by increasing its economic clout “daily” during a panel discussion with several African leaders.
African nations are sick of the United States and its disparaging remarks. The leaders of 49 countries and the African Union are visiting the US this time, but they won’t be having dinner at the White House, listening to Americans lecture them, or hearing them disparage China. They have made it clear that they are unwilling to give in to pressure to choose sides and want the US to respect them instead.
The Global Times asserted that President Joe Biden is merely trying to piggyback on the good work China has already done after giving a little backhanded praise for “sincere help to Africa,” such as his announcement that he would support adding the African Union to the Group of 20 countries.
The US has created a Gordian knot with its African strategy. Instead of assisting African nations in overcoming development challenges, it has set its sights on thwarting Chinese development on the African continent, which is fundamentally against the will of African nations and detrimental to their interests. In other words, the US only wants to paint a few pieces of cake before allowing African nations to pry away the bricks of projects constructed with Chinese assistance.
African leaders are aware that China and the U.S. are vying for influence, experts on the continent say. The bidding war intensifies as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reshuffles the geopolitical deck. African leaders are fully aware that the Chinese will never criticize them for doing whatever it takes to maintain their positions.
