In Africa, Trump’s ‘America first’ equals ‘China first’

BY ALAN GREEN

For very many years, and especially over the past decade, China has been especially aggressive in its pursuit of trade and investment deals in Africa, and has reaped huge benefits from it. Chinese investment (FDI) projects more than doubled in 2016, with the value of these projects outweighing U.S. investments by a factor of 10. Official Chinese statistics show that China-Africa trade increased by 16.8% in the first quarter of 2017.

It’s no secret Chinese officials are very popular in Africa. One should recall the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held 4-5 December 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa, with delegates from 50 African countries and China, during which China’s premier Xi Jinping, who was in attendance, pledged $60 billion in new investments in Africa.

For sure, African leaders appreciate China’s erection of “free” stadiums, office buildings and hospitals. To the contrary, this relationship rankles other leading nations in Europe and the United States, as the world second-largest economy shows little concern for the environment or good governance in its breakneck-spree to grab energy resources and new markets anywhere to feed its fast-growing economy.

Previous administrations in Washington have been concerned by China’s rise on the continent. In addition to the Obama administration’s several, bold initiatives to spur U.S. investments in Africa (through programs such as its Power Africa initiative), U.S. officials, in recent times, occasionally threw verbal punches at the Chinese government about its dealings in Africa. “We saw that during colonial times, it’s easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave. And when you leave, you don’t leave much behind for the people who are there. We don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa.” That was the concern raised by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, in Lusaka, Zambia, on 10 June 2011 in a speech at the end of a visit, drawing thunderous applause. Although the then-top American diplomat did not mention China by name, there was no doubt in the mind of the audience whom Clinton had in mind.

While China is plucking in an estimated $50-billion returns annually in Africa through infrastructure-building, the Trump administration is poised to go in the opposite direction with its lack of interest in the continent. An African government official interviewed for this article who spoke to “The African Magazine” on condition of anonymity for obvious reasons, remarked that “Trump’s ‘America first’ doctrine will lead to nothing less than ‘China first’ for Xi Jinping.”