A new policy toward Africa frames the U. S. in more adversarial roles with both China and Russia
The United States unveiled a new Africa strategy Thursday designed to prioritize American interests and challenge efforts by China and Russia to develop economic, political and security partnerships across the continent.
In prepared remarks, National Security Adviser John Bolton outlined a three-part policy that largely continues the United States’ existing approach to its military, trade and aid initiatives in Africa.
What’s new is a more explicit commitment to pursuing programs that unambiguously advance U. S. interests, and an emphatic desire to prevent Beijing and Moscow from making moves in Africa unchallenged.
The result is a strategy that emphasizes American needs and bilateral relationships, while downplaying African concerns, Jennifer Cooke, the director of George Washington University’s Institute for African Studies, told VOA.
“This sounds like a real return to the policies of realpolitik during the Cold War, when allies were based on their opposition to communism or the Soviet Union rather than good governance, human rights, economic prosperity and so forth,” Cooke said.
“I think African countries paid a big price for that kind of geopolitical battle,” she added. “And I think the United States has more at stake than the geopolitical battle. I think [the U. S.] has more to offer than what was laid out here.”
China-focused
Bolton mentioned China at least 15 times in his speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative, Washington D. C.-based think tank. South Sudan, the most-cited African country, came up just five times.
