African leaders have been arriving in Brussels all week in advance of the two-day Europe-Africa summit that begins tomorrow. But the timing of this year’s gathering comes as some in Europe are bracing for what could be the continent’s largest war since WWII and an increasingly contentious rivalry between the U.S. and China.
Furthermore, any new initiatives announced by the European side at this year’s summit will be immediately measured against the standards that China has set for African engagement on everything from vaccine distribution to trade promotion to infrastructure financing.
