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The Optics of the High-Level U.S. Delegation Visit to Equatorial Guinea Are Bad, Really Really Bad

by Eric Olander
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee meeting in the Presidential Palace with Equatorial Guinea President Obiag Nguema Mbasogo.

When U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee met with Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo last week at the Presidential Palace in Malabo to try and put a stop to the building of a Chinese military base in the West African country, she reportedly came prepared to bargain.

The Wall Street Journal claimed that Phee was going to link U.S. maritime security assistance for EG to the Chinese base issue — ergo you allow the Chinese base, you don’t get our aid money.

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