Is latest US drive to counter China’s influence in Africa too little, too late?
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo paid his first visit to Africa after almost two years in office and warned about ‘authoritarian regimes with empty promises’
- But attempts to boost business may be no match for China’s extensive investments and perceptions that the continent is an ‘afterthought’ for Trump’s White House
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Africa last week marked a new drive by the Trump administration to counter China’s growing influence in the continent.
Last week he visited Senegal, Angola and Ethiopia, three countries where Beijing has pumped billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, and used the trip to make a thinly veiled attack on China in an effort to promote the US and its companies as a better alternative.
But the visit was Pompeo’s first to Africa since taking on the role almost two years ago, and some observers questioned whether it was too little too late to counter Beijing’s much deeper levels of engagement.
On Wednesday in a speech in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, he warned African nations to be “wary of authoritarian regimes with empty promises”.
He said they “breed corruption, dependency, they don’t hire the local people, they don’t train, they don’t lead them”.
In contrast, he said, the United States stands for local jobs, environmental responsibility, honest business practices, high-quality work, and mutual prosperity.