U.S. and Chinese Special Envoy Visits Raise Great Power Questions in Horn of Africa 

China's Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing (left) with Ugandan Foreign Minister Oryem Okello and Ambassador Zhang Lizhong.

Xue Bing, China’s Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, is winding down his visit to the region with a two-day stop in Uganda, after visiting Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya. His last stop before returning will be South Sudan. His tour coincided with a visit to Sudan by his colleague Zhai Jun, the Special Envoy for the Middle East.

Xue’s appointment as Special Envoy raises questions about how he’ll interact with his U.S. counterpart, David Satterfield, Washington’s Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa. Satterfield also visited the region this week, touching down in Addis Ababa on Monday to meet with officials from the Ethiopian government and the AU.

  • Get a daily email packed with the latest China-Africa news and analysis.
  • Read exclusive insights on the key trends shaping China-Africa relations.
  • Full access to the News Feed that provides daily updates on Chinese engagement in Africa and throughout the Global South.

China, Africa and the Global South... find out what’s happening.

Subscribe today for unlimited access.

OR

Already a subscriber? Log in Click Here to Learn More
by Cobus van Staden

Most Read

1
Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
2 Chinese Military Fans Discuss Why Indonesia Bought Rafale Instead of J-10C
3
Chinese Cargo Planes Secretly Ferrying Supplies to Iran, Claim Online Sleuths
4
Thailand in Last-Minute U.S. Talks as 36% Tariff Looms
5
Indonesia Goes Nuclear, Taps China and Russia for Modular Reactors
6 From J-10C to Kaan? Indonesia’s Fighter Jet Deal With Turkey Shocks Chinese Military Fans

You Might Like

China Wants to Play a Bigger Diplomatic Role in the Horn of Africa, Setting Up Potential Confrontation With the U.S.

It was a remarkable coincidence that both the United States and China announced the appointments of special envoys for Ethiopia… on the same day. The State ...

The Increasing Closeness Between China and Somalia Raises Questions for U.S.

Somalia is emerging as a focus for China, following a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Somali counterpart Abisaid Muse Ali on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting ...

Foreign Intervention is the Root Cause of Conflict in the Horn of Africa Says China’s Special Envoy

Foreign intervention more than anything else is to blame for the current instability in the Horn of Africa (HoA), according to Xue Bing, China’s Special Envoy for the region.

Chinese Propaganda Promotes Beijing’s “Pragmatism” Over Washington’s “Idealism”

Global Times is one of China’s more nationalistic media outlets that often tests new propaganda and media messaging. This article was written Global Times writer Wang Cong in Kasane, Botswana. “The US continues ...

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.

More about CGSP