Ahead of Today’s Summit, Pompeo Issues Fresh Warning to African Leaders About China’s Supposed Intentions on the Continent

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is seemingly trying to downplay today’s China-Africa summit with yet another warning to African leaders about Beijing’s supposed ill intentions on the continent. In a tweet with an accompanying video published on the State Department’s French-language Twitter account, Pompeo was unreserved in his contempt for the Chinese:

“I want to mention briefly an upcoming meeting between General Secretary Xi and leaders in Africa on COVID-19. We’ve taken note of the very modest financial donations that China and so-called private Chinese entities have disbursed in Africa. 

“China’s contributions to fighting the pandemic are paltry compared to the financial and human cost of the coverup that it engendered. And I note too that China will exploit the pandemic as a pretext to continue its opaque lending practices that have led nations to debt and disappointment all throughout Africa.”

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