The BRICS group wrapped up its two-day leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. The summit’s final communique is a 16,000-word doorstop that covers numerous issues from economics to education.
The communique avoids any direct mention of the United States, and references to “unilateralism” and other coded criticism are also relatively scarce. Rather, the communique keeps the focus on the BRICS’ vision of the strengthening and reform of the global multilateral system ...
Category: U.S.-CHINA-AFRICA
Outspoken China Hawk Poised to Become Donald Trump’s New Envoy to South Africa
With U.S.-South Africa ties on the verge of total collapse following President Donald Trump's suspension of aid and his offer to resettle white South Africans as refugees, attention is now shifting to who Washington will send to Pretoria as its next ambassador. ...
China Will Be on Everyone’s Mind When Biden Visits Angola This Week
Joe Biden boarded Air Force One late Sunday night, bound for West Africa in what will likely be the outgoing U.S. president's final overseas trip before he leaves office next month. The President will travel to Angola with a brief stopover ...
Trump, China, and the Rest of Us
As we absorbed the news of another Trump term, my immediate conversations with friends split into two categories. With American and U.S.-adjacent friends, the conversation defaulted to (mostly despairing) unpackings of what happened. But the ...
Kenya’s William Ruto Once Again Pressed by Western Journalists: Do You Like Us or the Chinese Better?
It's now routine for Kenyan President William Ruto to get the "us or them" question from Western journalists when he's in the U.S. or Europe. In May, CNN's Richard Quest bluntly asked the president point blank if he had to make ...
Why the United States Struggles to Compete With China in Building African Infrastructure: Report
When it comes to building infrastructure in Africa, the U.S. dreams of competing with China, but in reality, there is hardly any contest to speak of. This is the main thrust of a new report by the Chinese research body, the Institute for International and Area Studies, ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Pentagon’s Top General for U.S. Forces in Africa Isn’t as Worried About Chinese Bases and Debt Traps as He Used to Be
The Pentagon's commander for U.S. forces in Africa, Marine Corps General Michael Langley, was once very worried about Chinese "debt traps" in Africa and the prospect that the PLA was looking to build a new base on Africa's Atlantic Coast. But ...
China’s Top Africa Diplomat Arrives in Nigeria Days After Blinken Visit
China's most senior diplomat for African affairs, Wu Peng, arrived in Abuja on Friday, just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Nigerian capital. Wu is currently on a tour of the continent that also includes stops in
Antony Blinken’s Africa-China Talking Points Sound Awfully Familiar…
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken took a break from his tour of Africa for an interview with Radio France Internationale in Abidjan. Biden administration officials have generally steered away from openly criticizing Africa’s engagement with China. However, when the inevitable ...
Chinese Press Dismisses Blinken’s Africa Tour
The reaction in China to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, Nigeria, and Angola has been relatively muted. The trip is likely seen as sensitive, which means that commentary is mostly appearing in the foreign policy-facing press.
The Real Challenge Facing Antony Blinken in Africa
It has become customary, as the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tours Africa, to rebuff journalists’ endless questions about China. Senior officials have made it clear that, unlike the Trump era, the Biden administration doesn’t want to put China threat narratives at the heart of their engagement ...
Blinken in Africa This Week Where He Will Try Hard to Avoid Talking About China
One week after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up a four-nation visit to Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday embarked on his own week-long, four-stop tour of the continent that will take him to Cabo Verde, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Angola. ...
U.S. Lawmakers Want to Sell More Stuff to Africa and Latin America to Counter China
Tucked away in a remote corner of the U.S. Senate's version of the massive $875 billion proposed budget for the U.S. Defense Department is a small piece of legislation that aims to boost U.S. exports to Africa. The legislation, known as the ...