By Muhammad Qasim

The US-China rivalry in Africa has garnered global attention, revealing a complex web of power politics, economic interests, and strategic maneuvers. While both nations claim to prioritize Africa's development and prosperity, a critical examination of their actions exposes underlying motives and questionable practices. This article aims to dissect the US-China rivalry in Africa, shedding light on the implications and potential pitfalls of this geopolitical game.

Africa has been part of ancient civilizations, been known for its trade and has been a place of intervention and colonization by foreign powers like the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Britain, and France from 15th to 20th century. The colonizers engaged actively in the extraction of minerals, transatlantic slave trade and took millions of Africans from their homes as slaves to North America. The colonization of several powers over hundreds of years has brought changes to the continent’s infrastructure, governance systems and enforced racial hierarchies.

The African continent being the world’s second largest population after Asia has a huge economic potential and is rich in mineral resources like gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt and oil reserves. Africa has thus long been a place of interest for major powers that colonized various countries, intervened militarily with the dominant intention to extract their mineral resources and subsequently use them in the global markets to enrich their economies.

The African continent is increasingly becoming an arena for great power competition between the U.S. and China.  According to some experts, it is starting to look like a new Cold War but rather than the fight for alliances in ideology, the competing states are looking towards developing relations which would help them in future. At the moment, competition between them is mostly in the economic sphere rather than the military. At a time when the US and Russia are locked in a battle of wills in Ukraine on the one hand and US-China standoff on the other, global diplomacy to win over allies has heightened.  Both the US and China are looking to win over nonaligned countries in places like Africa.

In December 2022, US hosted the Africa Summit in Washington to “unlock the potential of the decisive decade” after a long gap of eight years. The first such Summit was held in 2014. President Biden pledged a $55 billion support package as a US commitment to invest in food security, health, education and infrastructure and to advance the priorities and support of the US-African who have joined hands through the African Union’s Agenda 2063.   According to Secretary of State, Anthony J. Blinken, “Africa is a major geopolitical force. It is one that has shaped our past, it’s shaping our present, and it will shape our future.”  The visit of the US Vice President Kamala Harris to African countries in March 2023 has set the ground for US to solidify its Strategy for Africa. 

The military presence of US in Africa is its bases in Djibouti, Kenya, Niger, Egypt and Cameroon. The role of its military in the region is to fight against terrorism, train African partners in responding to crises and protect US interests. The bases also have the mission of sharing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data with allied and partner nations.  

The United Nations (UN) Missions in Africa increased in the 1990s due to the end of the Cold War era and decrease in superpower rivalry. For the US there was a perceived opportunity to address conflicts and humanitarian crises in Africa. Since then UN has maintained its peacekeeping operations of which the US is the largest financial contributor. The UN has 14 peacekeeping operations worldwide, of these, seven are in Africa.

China moved in with investment in infrastructural projects in various countries in Africa such as Algeria, Niger, Chad, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique under President Xi Jinping’s BRI. This has re-ignited the US and the West’s interest in Africa. Since 2000, China has hosted the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which is seen as a crucial tool for furthering China's diplomatic and economic objectives. China has mainly invested in the development of infrastructure, as well as resource extraction by Chinese mining and energy firms.  According to a study by Centre for Global Development (CGDev), the Chinese development banks lend far higher amount to Africa than the US, Germany, France and Japan combined.   Concurrently, the US Congress has been funding a Countering Chinese Influence Fund since 2019 to challenge China’s influence in Africa and elsewhere. 

With an investment of $155 billion over the previous 20 years, China has remained one of the main financiers of infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result, Beijing has gained considerable influence and contacts with several African nations. This has prompted some observers to see the BRI, launched in 2013, as a vehicle for “Chinese geopolitical expansion”. 

According to China’s official Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) website 42 African countries have signed MOUs with China for rail, roads, energy and infrastructural development projects. One of the major projects is the Chechell Beltway project that strategically connects Algeria with Niger, Nigeria and Chad, thereby accessing a combined market of 275 million people, and these landlocked markets to Algerian seaports. China is also working in Ethiopia on the Addis Ababa to Djibouti railway line. The construction on Port of Doraleh, near Djibouti, is another project under BRI that offers sea access to and from Ethiopia, Africa’s fastest growing economies and the continents second most populous country.  Opening Ethiopia up to trade is an important part of China’s African strategy.  Other projects included in the BRI are ‘the East Africa Rail Corridors’, the ‘Mombassa-Nairobi Railway’ in Kenya and the construction of Africa’s longest bridge in Mozambique.

China is also Africa’s largest trading partner, hitting $254 billion in 2021.  It also remains the largest lender to African countries and is the largest provider of foreign direct investment supporting hundreds of thousands of African jobs.  For the US the trade in goods and services with Africa in 2021 stood at $83.6 billion in total.  According to an analysis in Nikkei Asia, after displacing the US as Africa's main trading partner in 2009, China will likely import $300 billion worth of African goods between 2022 and 2024.  

China has pledged military cooperation with African partners and provided $60 million in military support as part of the FOCAC plan for 2016–18. The Chinese base at Djibouti has a dock reportedly capable of accommodating aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.  In the FOCAC plan of 2019–2021 50 programmes were to be established to improve security coordination between China and African nations. China has already invested $10 billion in international security, with a significant amount spent on Africa. The Chinese security support in Africa ranges from regular military and civilian police to private security companies.

The US commentators often describe China’s investments in Asia, Central Asia and Africa as a debt trap by China. The US has often accused China of a deliberate strategy to loan “unmanageable sums” to bring countries under its sphere of influence.  On the contrary, China considers itself a promising partner for Africa that has built gradual relations and brought about development and stability through progressive economic measures to the benefit of both. The US interest in Africa, it can be argued, is spurred by China’s increasing presence and is driven by its desire to counter China’s influence.

On the brighter side, the US and China rivalry could bring prosperity, security and development in the region to the benefit of all, especially for the people of Africa. For the observers, the African continent can prove to be a decisive battleground determining future course of global politics with China emerging as the strongman.   

For Pakistan the opportunity lies in increased economic activity via trade through the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). The sectors in Pakistan that can collaborate and benefit immensely are the textile, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries.  

To sum up, the rivalry between the United States and China in Africa is essentially a contest for geopolitical influence. China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative serves as an instrument to expand its sphere of influence and secure access to Africa's resources. Through extensive investments in infrastructure projects, China positions itself as a formidable player, extending its economic reach and solidifying diplomatic ties across the continent. In response, the United States, recognizing China's growing influence, seeks to counter it through its strategy of disruption and maintain its own strategic interests in Africa. Through military partnerships, security cooperation, and initiatives like Prosper Africa, the US endeavors to counterbalance China's economic sway and preserve its geopolitical advantage. Consequently, African nations find themselves caught in the middle, subject to a tug-of-war between these global powers. Thus, the African continent can prove to be a decisive battleground determining future course of global politics.

Author: Muhammad Qasim

([email protected])

*Opinions expressed in this article are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of The South Asia Times