U.S. Pans 'China's Malign Influence' in Africa as Beijing Seeks 'Open Mind'

As President Joe Biden prepared to preside over the second-ever U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the White House criticized China's growing inroads across the continent, even while Beijing adopted a nominally more diplomatic approach to the intensified competition there between the world's top two powers.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said that U.S. officials "respect" and "understand" that the African countries with which Washington is engaging in the ongoing summit are "sovereign nations, and they get to choose for themselves what their bilateral or multilateral associations are going to be."

But he asserted that "there's nothing inconsistent" about this position, and "shedding light on what is increasingly obvious to our African partners about China's malign influence on the continent."

"Much of the agenda today and the next two days is really about African concerns, African opportunities, things that the African Union said they wanted to speak about," Kirby said.

"So, there's no there's no gap between, again, just highlighting the fact of China's malign influence on the continent with discussions broadly speaking about how African investment, African prosperity, African economic growth and development, African youth leadership, African approaches to climate change, and so many other security challenges can be furthered, not just by Africans, but by the United States in full partnership with them," he explained.

The comment followed a trend of U.S. officials scrutinizing Chinese influence and investment in Africa, a decades-long effort pursued by Beijing. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Tuesday that both China and Russia were "not always transparent in terms of what they're doing, and that creates problems that will be eventually destabilizing, if they're not already."

Hours later, and prior to Kirby's remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to the criticism, saying that "supporting Africa's development is the common responsibility of the international community."

"We are always happy to see Africa diversify its cooperation partners, and we welcome greater international focus on and investment in Africa, including from the U.S.," he added, "as well as cooperation with Africa, which is genuinely equal-footed and mutually-beneficial."

Wang urged Washington not to prejudge Beijing's overtures in Africa and, echoing Kirby's words, said it would ultimately be up to African countries themselves to decide.

"We also hope that the U.S. will view China-Africa cooperation with an open mind. Africa is not a wrestling ground for major-country rivalry, still less a target of strong-arm tactic from a certain country or certain people," Wang said. "African countries and people have the wisdom and capability to choose cooperation partners who can help advance African interests. They themselves are best positioned to tell who wants what's best for the continent."

"China is Africa's good friend, partner and brother," he added. "Our cooperation with Africa is equal-footed, win-win, aboveboard and fruitful. It is warmly welcomed by the people of Africa. The U.S. needs to respect the aspiration of the African people and take concrete actions to advance Africa's development, instead of being bent on smearing and attacking other countries."

China has long viewed engagement with Africa as a priority. For 32 years, China's top diplomats have chosen the continent for their first stop abroad of the year. This year was no exception, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a three-country tour of Eritrea, Kenya and Comoros.

In a similarly longstanding effort, the triannual Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has been held for the last 22 years, gathering Beijing and representatives of all African states with the exception of the Kingdom of Eswatini, the only African country to maintain relations with the disputed island of Taiwan. The most recent meeting took place last year in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

In recent years these meetings have been used as a platform to promote President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, a historic intercontinental network of Chinese infrastructure projects, which also runs through nearly every African nation.

Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Qin Gang noted this focus on Africa in Beijing's foreign policy during a conference organized Monday by the news outlet Semafor. Addressing U.S. criticism, he said that "our relationship with Africa is sincere, is out of consideration to help Africa in its efforts for peace, security and development."

"We are not interested in the views of any other countries on China's role in Africa," Qin said at the time. "And we believe that Africa should be a place for international cooperation, not for major-power competition for geopolitical gains."

He expressed "hope that the forthcoming Africa-U.S. Summit will come up with more concrete and workable measures" for Washington's engagement with the continent as well.

One of the longest-running accusations from U.S. officials toward China's financial relationship with developing countries, including those in Africa, is that it engages in so-called "debt trap diplomacy," through which poorer countries indebted to Chinese loans allegedly become beholden to Beijing's political interests.

"China's investment and financing assistance to Africa is not a trap, it's a benefit," Qin said Monday. "Over the past decades, China has provided loans to help Africa with economic and social development. Construction works are everywhere in Africa. You can see hospitals, highways, airports, stadiums. Obviously, there is no such trap. It is not a plot. It is transparent, it is sincere. This is obvious."

He noted that China was not the world's biggest creditor of African debt, citing a study published in July by the United Kingdom-based campaign group Debt Justice.

The study, which cited World Bank data, found that 12% of Africa's nearly $700 billion external debt was held by Chinese public and private lenders, while 35% was owed to other private creditors. A further 39% was due for multilateral institutions and the remaining 13% was claimed by other governments.

The debate over Africa's external debt played out as U.S.-China relations have grown strained in recent years, with bilateral ties breaking down as differing geopolitical interests have increased tension between the two nations. After an explosive August saw cooperation between Washington and Beijing suspended on a number of fronts over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, Biden and Xi appeared to seek a de-escalation of tensions and demonstrate a willingness to manage their competition.

Yet the two nations continue to strive to promote their national interests across the globe, with Xi recently traveling to Saudi Arabia to oversee a landmark meeting with Arab leaders. The trip came roughly five months after Biden traveled to the Kingdom amid tensions with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, only to have Riyadh later back a deal among oil-exporting nations to cut production by around two million barrels at a time when the U.S. sought an increase in output to keep fuel prices down while maintaining sanctions on Russia.

A number of U.S. officials have acknowledged a lack of attention given to diplomacy toward Africa. Speaking at that same conference Monday, U.S. Commerce Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves acknowledged that the U.S. had taken its "eye of the ball" over the past 10 years, "and U.S. investors and companies are having to play catch-up."

But Biden vowed to change this when he addressed the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, part of the three-day summit being held in the nation's capital this week involving all African nations with the exceptions of Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Sudan, which have witnessed sudden changes of government that garnered suspensions from the African Union, and Eritrea, with which the U.S. does not have diplomatic relations.

Addressing African leaders, the U.S. president said that "the United States is all in on Africa's future," and offered an ambitious vision of both federal and private initiatives to support the continent in various fields, including in trade, infrastructure and innovation and entrepreneurship.

The White House had earlier announced a three-year plan totaling some $55 billion in funding for Africa.

"This is just the beginning," Biden said Wednesday. "There's so much more we can do together and that we will do together."