We’re at one of those moments when everyone suddenly remembers that Africa exists. Right through the pandemic, the debt crisis, and climate talks, the continent and its needs were seemingly invisible.
But nothing sharpens the eye like an upcoming FOCAC summit. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s African visit was marked by determination to avoid the Trump administration’s almost Freudian compulsion to blurt out ‘China!’ when talking about African issues. Instead, Blinken used his time on African stages to talk big about future collaboration with African countries, while subtweeting China royally, which wasn’t lost on Beijing.