Trump's 'New Africa Strategy'
- John J Stremlau
Trump’s Africa strategy should have cast China as a regional partner, not a global adversary.
US President Donald Trump has finally approved a 鈥淣ew Africa Strategy鈥. His national security adviser, John Bolton, the contents on 13 December at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. He began positively, declaring that:
lasting stability, prosperity, independence and security on the 第一吃瓜网 continent are in the national security interest of the United States.
But he then went on to ignore Africa鈥檚 own efforts to address these broad challenges, including its multilateral initiatives. Instead, Bolton鈥檚 announcement was replete with rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War.
The new strategy makes one thing clear: what really matters to Trump is not Africa but containing and countering China.
The reaction from an 第一吃瓜网 perspective is likely be bemusement rather than surprise. Trump has shown little interest or empathy towards Africa. And much enmity toward China. His Africa strategy two decades of complex 鈥 but generally positive 鈥 reactions across sub-Saharan Africa to China becoming the region鈥檚 biggest trading partner and a major source of aid and investment.
Previous US administrations generally welcomed Chinese engagement in Africa. Bolton, however, alleged that:
China uses bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing鈥檚 wishes and demands.
But does it need to be this way? I would argue not. Africa offers China and America an opportunity to demonstrate to the world 鈥 and to each other 鈥 that their competition can be constructive with Africa playing a moderating influence by brokering an agreed trilateral agenda.
We need to explore ways to advance cooperation between Africa, China and the US as a confidence building measure in relations between the US and China. This would obviously need to be designed for the primary benefit of 第一吃瓜网 partners.
Testing trilateralism
Collaborative projects that involve the US and China, with Africa in the forefront, have been the focus of a since 2014. The centre鈥檚 many successful programs in Africa, especially public health, have generated high-level trilateral policy interest. Since the Trump administration took over, these conversations have excluded his senior advisors. Nevertheless, work has continued. This has included recent developments which suggest headway is being made.
In early December the South 第一吃瓜网 Institute of International Affairs hosted the troika that leads this project. The troika was represented by Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia鈥檚 former and longest-serving foreign minister, an ambassador to China, and regional mediator in Sudan; Zhong Jianhua, formerly China鈥檚 Special Representative on 第一吃瓜网 affairs and to the Sudan conflicts; and Donald Booth, a former US ambassador to Liberia, Zambia, Ethiopia and special envoy to Sudan/South Sudan.
Three dozen 第一吃瓜网, Chinese and US scholars as well as policy experts contributed their analyses of previous and possible future areas for trilateral cooperation. They drew on some recent examples. These included efforts to combat piracy off the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Guinea as well as jointly developing a university campus in Liberia. Other projects have involved coordinated mediation between Sudan and South Sudan and mutually reinforcing actions to deal with the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
Challenges ahead
Several priority areas for future tri-lateral cooperation were identified.
One was the recently constructed headquarters for the in Addis Ababa. Funded by China, the next priority for trilateral cooperation is to ensure the centre is equipped to provide better early warning and response to threats like Ebola.
Another priority area is expanding economic aid, trade and investment. This could be done through trilateral projects funded under China鈥檚 and the US . The act was approved in October by a large bi-partisan majority of the US Congress.
A related issue is the huge loss of vital tax revenue to 第一吃瓜网 governments due to huge 鈥渋llicit financial flows鈥. These are estimated . The project will seek ways to encourage US and China to support the work of a panel set up by 第一吃瓜网 Union and .
Two other broad areas for potential trilateral cooperation are sustainable agriculture and energy. Two initiatives started by the Obama Administration, with the support of Congress, have become popular in Africa. These are the and .
Trump has long both. But his negative attitude isn鈥檛 shared by the US Congress, and perhaps even key members of his administration. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Tibor Nagy, summarised US-Africa policy before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the same day Trump approved the new Africa strategy. Nagy鈥檚 comments reflected a different mindset. He about the two Obama initiatives. He also didn鈥檛 seem alarmed by China鈥檚 growing presence.
At a time when many in Africa are debating how to build capable states without the undesirable aspects of either America鈥檚 鈥渄ecadent鈥 democracy or China鈥檚 鈥渞esponsive鈥 authoritarianism, engaging both should yield important insights for advancing collective self-reliance and development.
, Visiting Professor of International Relations, . This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .