Competition is brewing between China and the United States in Africa. After US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to reenergise American engagement last month, the recently concluded Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Senegal spotlighted China’s trade, investment and political ties on the continent.
Coupled with the emotions that China’s presence in Africa often invokes in the West, Africa is sometimes framed as another venue in a new Cold War-style rivalry between Beijing and Washington. But Chinese and American leaders should reject this type of thinking.
China and the US need each other in Africa. The two must work with their African counterparts to grasp common interests in helping Africa overcome some of its most urgent challenges, including Covid-19, conflict and climate change.
Any intense rivalry between China and the US in Africa faces one important hurdle: Africans are not interested in choosing sides. In a speech last year, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta rebuked any return by foreign powers to weaponising African divisions to advance their own interests. Instead, a recent Afrobarometer poll of 18 countries found that most Africans see both China and the US as positive external influencers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping gives a speech via video link at the opening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Dakar, Senegal, on November 29. Photo: Reuters
But competition between China and the US is not inherently detrimental to Africa. Representing a mere 3 per cent of global imports and exports, the continent is hungry for trade and investment. Its bilateral trading relationship with China is consistently Africa’s largest. Two-way trade has already topped US$200 billion this year, rebounding after a pandemic-induced slump in 2020.
Trade with the US is up, too, but it is likely to only reach US$60 billion by year’s end.
The US could take a cue from China in engaging the diversity of economic opportunity in Africa, underpinned by its future consumer market potential. The flow of Chinese loans to build new roads, railways and hydropower dams in Africa has slowed from US$11 billion in 2017 to US$3.3 billion last year, reflecting Beijing’s new caution about the financial sustainability of some African countries. Even so, China is emerging as an investor in manufacturing on the continent, an industry other foreign partners largely overlook.
Both Beijing and Washington, however, can do more to open new avenues for economic cooperation. For years, African leaders have called on Beijing to lower trade barriers for African exports beyond oil and minerals. At the recent forum in Senegal, Beijing promised to so with a new “green lanes” initiative to bring more African agricultural products into the Chinese market.
To maximise their trade potential, African countries will also need to strike new trade deals with the US. Washington’s long-running African Growth and Opportunity Act is going to expire in 2025.
Yet Africa also faces challenges where China and the US must work together if their interests on the continent are to be realised. Africa was out in front of much of the West in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, but a lack of access to vaccines meant that only around 6 per cent of Africa’s population is vaccinated.
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China pledges 1 billion vaccine jabs for Africa amid growing fear about Omicron coronavirus strain
China pledges 1 billion vaccine jabs for Africa amid growing fear about Omicron coronavirus strain
At the China-Africa forum, President Xi Jinping pledged 1 billion vaccines for the continent. US President Joe Biden has said the US will donate 1.1 billion vaccines to the developing world. Now both Beijing and Washington, as the world’s leading vaccine exporter and donor, respectively, need to put these plans into action quickly if the world is to prevent the development of new variants from prolonging the pandemic even further.
Africa also faces catastrophic consequences from climate change with drought, heatwaves and crop failure upending food security. As Egypt prepares to host next year’s UN climate summit, China and the US must continue to work together to reduce global carbon emissions.
Towards that aim, climate-friendly infrastructure finance in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, alongside green engagements planned by Biden’s new Build Back Better World initiative, can create jobs and sustainable growth in Africa.
Then there is conflict. China is learning over the years that, as its investments and infrastructure projects mature, they become ingrained in local politics and prone to insecurity. Ethiopia’s ongoing conflict is a prime example. Ethiopia’s fast-paced economic growth, coupled with its large intake of Chinese loans and low-cost manufacturing investment, has made it a showcase country for China’s engagement in Africa.
However, Ethiopia’s deepening conflict could upend its development progress for years to come. For China, this outcome is reminiscent of civil war upsetting the viability of its once-lucrative oil investments in Sudan and South Sudan.
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What is behind the fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region?
What is behind the fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region?
The US also faces potential blowback if African conflicts and political upheaval continue. If the recent push by Washington to re-engage Africa is to succeed, this instability needs to end.
It is through cooperation that Beijing and Washington can best help Africa overcome these multiple challenges. Just before the start of the US-China trade war, Chinese and American special envoys to Africa were building a dialogue on how to complement one another’s efforts for such challenges.
Joint efforts to end piracy off the coast of Somalia and control West Africa’s Ebola outbreak provide important examples of mutual successes to build confidence for future cooperation. The recent virtual summit between Xi and Biden should provide the basis for energising these efforts.
Africa’s challenges represent a rare opportunity for low-politics cooperation between China and the US to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, address climate change and support peace and security. In rejecting an all-or-nothing approach to Africa, China and the US will not only assist the continent in tackling its biggest challenges, they might also find ways to ease their own growing tensions.
Luke Patey is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies
Zhang Chun is a professor at the Centre for Africa Studies at Yunnan University, China
