John Bolton, US national security adviser, says Washington must counter \u2018predatory practices\u2019 by Beijing and Moscow<\/b>
\nThe Trump administration considers it a foreign-policy priority to counter China and Russia as they exert \u201cpredatory practices\u201d in growing their economic and political influence in Africa, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Thursday.
Framing it as a top national security objective, Bolton said the US would build up economic ties with the region to create opportunities for American businesses and protect the independence of African countries.
\u201cGreat power competitors, namely China and Russia, are rapidly expanding their financial and political influence across Africa,\u201d Bolton said.
\u201cThey are deliberately and aggressively targeting their investments in the region to gain a competitive advantage over the United States.\u201d
Bolton made the remarks in a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank based in Washington. The remarks came only two weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump reached a tentative agreement during the G20 meetings in Buenos Aires, Argentina, not to escalate the two countries\u2019 months-long trade war.
Since then, follow-up trade talks have already been complicated by the arrest in Canada of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China\u2019s telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, acting on a US request for extradition. The US contends that Weng engaged in frauds to bypass US sanctions on Iran, moves which have met with fury from Beijing.
\u201cThe predatory practices pursued by China and Russia stunt economic growth in Africa, threaten the financial independence of African nations, inhibit opportunities for US investment, interfere with US military operations, and pose a significant threat to U. S. national security interests,\u201d Bolton said.
Bolton, a longtime Russia hawk, slammed Russia\u2019s activities in Africa.
\u201cAcross the continent, Russia advances its political and economic relationships with little regard for the rule of law or accountable and transparent governance,\u201d he said.
Bolton went on to claim that Moscow had sold arms and energy in exchange for votes at the United Nations, \u201cvotes that keep strongmen in power, undermine peace and security, and run counter to the best interests of the African people.\u201d
But Bolton reserved his most extensive comments for China\u2019s ambitions.
For example, he said, a port in Djibouti on the Red Sea might give control over to a Chinese state-owned enterprise. \u201cShould this occur, the balance of power in the Horn of Africa \u2014 a major artery of maritime trade between Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia \u2014 would shift in favor of China,\u201d he said.
Africa is one of the main targets of China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a programme of transcontinental infrastructure development and investment which Xi launched in 2013. The BRI also intends to improve infrastructure that connects China to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Middle East and Europe.
During a trip to Africa in September, Xi pledged US$60 billion in financing for projects on the continent in the form of assistance, investment and loans.
Xi also said during the trip that the BRI was to promote \u201ccommon prosperity\u201d in a world that faces \u201cunilateralism and protectionism\u201d, an expression Beijing commonly uses to refer to trade policies of the Trump administration.
Bolton\u2019s speech was just the latest sign of the administration\u2019s intensifying focus on international development as a theater of influence.
In October, the US Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the BUILD Act, which creates a new development agency\u2014 the US International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) \u2013 seen at least in part as a response to China\u2019s BRI.
The act set the IDFC\u2019s spending cap at US$60 billion, more than double the US$29 billion funding cap of its predecessor agency, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). The act also gave the agency authority to invest equity in development projects, instead of just providing loans.
Also on Thursday, OPIC, which will be subsumed into the IDFC next year, announced it had approved more than $1.3 billion in financing and political risk insurance across six projects, including US$430 million in insurance to Egypt to support the restoration, operation, and maintenance of a natural gas pipeline.<\/p>\n