WASHINGTON – When Donald Trump looked at Africa, he bluntly dismissed its importance and worried that African immigrants would never “go back to their shacks” once they entered the United States.
When Joe Biden looks to Africa, he sees opportunities to limit China’s growing influence in the world.
Biden has sought to move beyond Trump’s dismissive, sometimes confrontational approach and focus on deepening ties with a continent that is home to a rapidly growing population and is a potentially important geopolitical partner.
“Our eyes are on the future,” Biden told a small group of African leaders in Washington last year.
But beneath the rhetoric of the promise lies a more strategic reason for the change in attitude and approach in US-Africa policy.
“This is about China,” said Mark Green, a former ambassador to Tanzania and president of the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on global affairs. “It’s about great power, competition.”
On Wednesday, Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in person for the second time since Biden became president. The four-hour meeting, held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, comes as the two leaders work to mend relations deeply strained by a trade war that began when Trump was in office and from conflicts over technology. China’s aggression against Taiwan and a Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States earlier this year until a US fighter jet shot it down.
In his opening remarks, Biden told Xi that the two leaders must ensure that competition between their countries “does not devolve into conflict.”
“We have to manage this responsibly — this competition,” Biden said. “This is what the United States wants and this is what we intend to do. I also think that’s what the world wants from both of us: honest exchange.”
Xi said that while the China-US relationship has never been normalized, it has “continued to move forward amid upheavals”.
“Planet Earth is big enough for both countries to succeed, and one country’s success is another country’s opportunity,” he said.
Neither leader has acknowledged, at least not publicly, the newest arena in the rivalry between the two economic giants: Africa.
“You’ll see a lot of us”:China has far surpassed the US as an economic player in Africa. Can Biden change that?
“New Kid on the Block in Africa”
China, an economic and military rival of the United States, has made significant gains in Africa over the past two decades, raising alarms in the US and European countries that fear Beijing’s growing influence in the world.
“China in the 2000s became the new kid on the block in Africa,” said Amaka Anku, who heads the Africa practice for Eurasia Group, a global political risk consultancy based in New York.
China has far surpassed the US as an economic player in Africa. Trade between China and Africa will reach $254 billion in 2021 – four times US-Africa trade, according to the United States Institute of Peace, a nonpartisan, non-profit organization established by Congress.
China is the largest provider of foreign direct investment in Africa, supporting hundreds of thousands of African jobs – about twice the level of US foreign direct investment in the continent. China is also by far the largest lender to African countries, often providing loans on far more favorable terms than those offered by US lenders.
In addition, the Chinese have been pushing to establish a military base on the west coast of Africa – a particular concern for the Biden administration, which views China as the most consequential threat to US national security.
“This is a crossroads moment for US-Africa relations,” Green said. “And I think it’s important to continue to build relationships.”
The best way to do that, he said, is for the president to set foot in Africa – “frankly, the sooner the better.”
“All about the future of Africa”:Biden announces trade, infrastructure investment in Africa
Biden has said he plans to visit Africa this year, though no plans have been announced, and with just six weeks left in 2023, a trip there this year seems unlikely. The White House, pressed by reporters on whether Biden plans to follow through on his promise to visit before the end of the year, said only that it had no update on his travel schedule.
Biden insists his goal is not to contain China, and his administration has played down suggestions that his interest in Africa is linked to a desire to limit Chinese influence there.
Besides the economy, analysts say there are many reasons for the US to engage with Africa, the most important of which is the rise of authoritarianism on the continent – a concern for the US and other democracies. Africa also has the youngest population in the world. The top 10 countries with the lowest median age are there, according to the Wilson Center.
The African Union, which represents the continent’s 54 countries, is pushing for a permanent seat or seats on the UN National Security Council, which would provide some of the respect the continent has long sought on the world stage.
Biden has publicly advocated not only for Africa to be given a permanent seat at the UN, but also for the African Union to be added to the Group of 20 nations. South Africa is currently the only African member of the G-20, a government forum made up of the world’s largest industrialized and emerging countries.
‘Well, look, it is’:Biden calls China’s Xi a dictator again, upsetting Beijing after high-stakes meeting
“African leaders do not want to become chess pieces”
Africans didn’t exactly like Trump during his four years in office. He never visited Africa during his presidency, making him the first president since Ronald Reagan to never set foot on the continent while in office.
Trump’s inflammatory language didn’t help either.
During an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers on immigration, he questioned why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and “hole countries” in Africa rather than places like Norway. In a separate meeting a few months earlier, he reportedly fumed that thousands of Haitians who had entered the United States had AIDS and that Nigerian visitors would never “go back to their huts” in Africa. Critics called his comments derogatory and racist.
Biden sought to restore relations with Africa upon taking office. Last December, the administration hosted the first US-Africa Leaders Summit since 2014. Heads of state from 49 African nations and the African Union were invited to Washington for a chance to reconnect with the Biden administration.
To underline its commitment to Africa, the US has pledged to send $55 billion to Africa over the next three years for initiatives to improve health care, mitigate the risks of climate change, stimulate trade and investment, and create programs to help women entrepreneurs.
And while Biden has yet to visit, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and other administration officials have traveled to the continent in the past year, pledging that the US is serious about deepening ties with Africa.
Whenever Biden makes the trip, African leaders will be looking for more than promises from the administration, analysts said.
They will be looking for a message that the U.S. considers the region important — and not just as a security buffer against China, Green said.
“African leaders do not want to become chess pieces,” he said.
African countries need funding to help finance critical development initiatives, infrastructure projects and climate change mitigation, said Rama Yade, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.
“They have $200 billion a year in development needs, and that’s absolutely key,” he said. “Six hundred million people suffer from a lack of electricity, not to mention food insecurity, housing, transportation, infrastructure problems. These are critical.”
African leaders are willing to work so closely with China, Yade said, “because the Chinese — they bring money.”
The US government’s announcement of funding programs for Africa in the past has always come with the promise of millions of dollars in accompanying investment from the private sector. But private sector funding rarely materializes, Anku said.
For now, “I think what African countries would like to see is ‘show me the money,'” he said.
While Africa has many big-ticket needs, smaller projects or those that directly benefit communities can sometimes have the most lasting impact, Green said.
Green realized that soon after he was named ambassador to Tanzania and landed in Dar es Salaam to present his credentials. The arrival of a new ambassador is a big deal, with lots of limousines and a ceremony full of pomp and circumstance. But what Green remembers most about that day is his taxi driver.
“Before we took off, he turned around, leaned (over) to me and said, ‘I was taught by a Peace Corps teacher,’ and went back to the wheel,” Green said. “For him, that was the big issue, not the formalities. It was American compassion and action.”
“That, to me,” Green added, “is how you make a difference.”
Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on Twitter @mcollinsNEWS.
PEPFAR:A long bipartisan effort, a program to fight global HIV is stuck in Washington gridlock