From August 8 to 11, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda one after another, and announced the Biden administration's new strategy for sub-Saharan Africa.
After four years of Trump's neglect and the binary opposition of "democracy against autocracy" in the early days of Biden's presidency, Blinken's trip does seem to be announcing a U.S. turn toward Africa's diplomacy.
On his first visit to South Africa, he stated: "Time and time again, African countries have been asked to choose sides in the power race, far removed from what ordinary people know and feel about their daily struggles. Nor should it be done, the right to make these choices belongs to Africans and only Africans.”
On the day Blinken arrived in South Africa, the White House released an article on the US Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, which included four major projects: fostering open societies and achieving democratic and security outcomes The third is to advance post-pandemic recovery and economic opportunities, and the fourth is to support conservation, climate adaptation, and a just energy transition.
All of these strategic goals contain detailed items of varying degrees of specificity.
A new strategy focused on practice
At the University of Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, Blinken delivered a long speech announcing the New Deal.
Among them, in addition to showing that the United States does not ask other countries to stand in line, Blinken talked about debt relief, agricultural investment, G7 infrastructure investment plan, leadership training, medical assistance for AIDS and other specific cooperation from the SpaceX star chain project and submarine communication cables. , the new crown epidemic, climate policy, etc., obviously intend to focus on practice.
Although he also mentioned the African people's support for the democratic system, the Russian mercenary group "Wagner" (Wagner) in Africa, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused a greater food crisis, the emphasis on practicality over politics is still Blinken's intention to create out of the atmosphere.
Answering reporters' questions on the same stage with South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, Blinken said "our commitment to stronger partnership with Africa is not about trying to outdo anyone."
On August 8, Blinken met with South African Foreign Minister Pandol.
(AP)
For Blinken's remarks that he "doesn't want to stand in line", Pandor said she readily accepted it, and said that she could not remember the United States ever having such an attempt.
However, while Blinken launched this "do not ask to stand in line" statement, the US's own propaganda, and even the public relations of European countries headed by the United States, seem to have not yet accepted the fact that they can no longer ask African countries to stand in line.
The camp mentality that has not been put down
In the "U.S. Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa" released by the Biden administration, the 17-page document contains seven references to Russia, referring to Russia's use of Africa as a state-like organization or private military enterprise "with a wide open door" (permissive) operating environment, creating regional instability, seeking only strategic and economic interests, and using false information to influence African opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and crimes against humanity.
As for China, which the United States regards as its only long-term rival, the strategy document criticizes China for using Africa as an arena for challenging the rules-based international order, pursuing its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests, undermining a transparent and open system, and weakening the United States Relations with African people and governments.
This kind of negative positioning of China and Russia in Africa is obviously inseparable from camp-based thinking logic.
In addition to the United States, at the end of July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and French President Emmanuel Macron visited many African countries (different countries) at almost the same time.
During his visit, Lavrov talked about the fact that Russia's war with Ukraine caused starvation in Russia was just "baseless" propaganda, saying that Russia has no "blood-stained colonial crimes", does not impose anything on other countries, and does not teach them how to live.
Africa Day is being celebrated in Moscow. Sergei Lavrov is surrounded by smiling African ambassadors pic.twitter.com/dGZ2v8BnaK
— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) May 25, 2022
In this regard, Macron retorted in the air during his visit, "I want to tell you that in Africa, a continent that has suffered from colonial imperialism, Russia is the last colonialist and imperialist power."
He also accused Russia of using food supplies as a weapon.
He added that he saw "too much hypocrisy, especially on the African continent" on the issue of the war in Ukraine.
In front of Blinken, South African Foreign Minister Pandor seemed to make another rebuttal to Macron.
Citing the question of the future of Palestine, which has now been ignored by the Western world, she pointed out that "just as Ukraine deserves their territory and freedom, Palestine deserves their territory and freedom", saying that the international community should pay equal attention to both , criticizing the "unbalanced" implementation of international law by all parties will only lead to "cynicism".
Pandor also said that in her exchanges with allies in Europe and other regions, she felt the "oppression of being superior to others", "if you don't choose this, you can do it."
For Blinken's "not asking to stand in line", she cited the "Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act" (Counting Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act) being passed by the US Congress as an offensive legislation.
Merci pour votre accueil ! Ma visite en Guinée-Bissau n'était qu'une étape : il nous reste beaucoup à faire ensemble. plus, nous serons là dans la durée. pic.twitter.com/iy0Y1e0lFB
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) July 28, 2022
Thunder and rain, little piecemeal diplomacy
In addition to failing to completely let go of the "request to stand in line", the deployment of the Biden administration in Africa is also clearly lacking in planning.
For example, the infrastructure investment plan "PGII" announced at the G7 summit in June, although there was a call for an investment of up to 600 billion US dollars, was actually a lot of thunder and little rain. The plan totals only about a billion dollars at most.
However, the specific diplomatic actions of the United States in Africa are still in a fragmented stage.
In South Africa, Blinken's activities are mainly ceremonial.
In Congo, Blinken's greatest achievement is probably persuading the government and the United States to form a team to review its oil and gas development plans. The Congo Basin has the largest rainforest area after the Amazon, and its conservation is essential to slowing global warming. This is especially important, but Congolese authorities announced bids for oil and gas extraction in May this year, drawing concerns from global environmental groups.
On the last stop in Rwanda (the result was not yet available at the time of this article's publication), Blinken's main task has just been to resolve the discord between the two countries caused by Rwanda's accusation by the United Nations of supporting the M23 armed rebel group in eastern Congo; at the same time, he will also call for taking power 22-year-old Rwandan President Paul Kagame has released Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life protagonist of the film "Hotel Rwanda", who was kidnapped and returned to his country two years ago.
However, the United States probably has no overall response to the Kagame regime, which has been accused of becoming increasingly authoritarian and a threat to regional stability.
On August 11, Blinken met with Rwandan President Kagame.
(AP)
To put it 10,000 steps back, even if the Biden administration can completely eliminate the antagonistic thinking of the African camp and propose a systematic African policy, the domestic politics of the United States has also determined that after 2024, the Trump-style Republican Party Politicians may return to the DPRK and completely overthrow the Democratic government's Africa policy.
This uncertainty also determines that it is difficult for African countries to have confidence in the continued investment of the United States in Africa.
For the above-mentioned reasons, the United States' African policy has long been lost. The Biden administration and Blinken, who hope to find the right track, may not be able to do so due to various internal and external constraints.
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