Writing on Nov. 20, Semafor’s Managing Editor for Live Journalism Andy Browne, issued a stern warning to the geopoliticians around U.S. President Donald Trump, saying that the U.S. disengagement from Africa will only leave the field to China. “Beijing is moving closer to its goal of forging an alternative to the U.S.-led global order,” Browne says, “not because of any great enthusiasm among indebted countries of the Global South, but by default.”
In particular, Browne says: “U.S. President Donald Trump’s boycott of this weekend’s G20 meeting in Johannesburg has been widely cast as a win for China, and for good reason: The U.S. appears to be turning its back on Africa just as Beijing surges its infrastructure and investment commitments to the continent after a long lull.” Driving home his point, he includes South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s quip on hearing of the U.S. boycott of the meeting: “It’s their loss.”
Browne said: “The U.S. and other Western powers talk a big game about competing with China’s long-running Belt and Road Initiative but their efforts have come up far short. Instead, the U.S. has largely dismantled its foreign aid program, while the EU, U.K., and other Western economies scale back theirs.”
On top of all this, China is now moving to do more manufacturing in Africa, by Africans. “Of course,” he writes in closing, “the U.S. is offering nothing of the kind…. Africa and other emerging economies seeking to industrialize are out of options.”
