China: The Hot Button Domestic Political Issue in African Countries

Kenya's Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe (C) speaks at Mbagathi Hospital during the launch of an isolation and treatment centre for the new coronavirus dubbed COVID-19, in Nairobi on March 6, 2020.  SIMON MAINA / AFP

China is fast becoming a contentious political issue in a growing number of African countries, just as in the U.S., Europe, and in most countries here in Asia. Political rivals find that it’s becoming increasingly effective to disparage their opponents’ ties to Beijing as a way to score domestic political points, especially today amid growing public skepticism about the current state of China-Africa ties (COVID, debt, Guangzhou, and many more.) 

Getting tough with China now plays as well in Windhoek as it does in Washington.

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by Eric Olander

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