Why China has ‘drifted away’ from its African allies on military coups

Beijing, along with Moscow, blocked the UN Security Council from supporting new Ecowas sanctions on Mali this month

Observers say military takeovers in the region have complicated Chinese economic interests and foreign policy

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Protesters show support for the military in the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou, on Tuesday, a day after the president was ousted. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00pm, 29 Jan 2022

Beijing usually offers its support to African nations on matters that affect the continent. But this month it went against the prevailing position on Mali, the troubled West African country where the military has seized power.

Two weeks ago, China and Russia blocked an attempt by France to get the UN Security Council to back a decision to impose economic and border sanctions on Mali.

The decision was made by the 15-member Economic Community of West African States, or Ecowas, which called for the new sanctions after Mali coup leaders postponed elections for five years that they had originally agreed to hold next month.

The sanctions had the support of the United States and the European Union. They were also welcomed by the African Union amid a deteriorating situation in West Africa, after Burkina Faso’s government was overthrown and President Roch Marc Christian Kabore captured by mutinous soldiers on Monday. Other African nations hit by military takeovers in the past year include Chad, Sudan and Guinea.

David Shinn, a former US ambassador to Burkina Faso and currently a professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, said Ecowas had taken a hard line on military coups in recent years – and that China usually supported its position.

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