Opinion
Should the United States Lose to China in Africa?
A Little Realism
We could say that China is winning in Africa. But then, what is China actually winning? Is it not just building the roads and other infrastructure so that Fords, Chryslers and Chevrolets can drive down highways between Congo Brazzaville and Mombasa, Kenya? Why, then, would America fight with China over a continent that provides about 2 percent of America’s imports when it can continue to spend 70 percent of her foreign assistance on health. Anyhow, the Chinese are, in the short term being laughed at for what The Economist called ‘sloppy’ and ‘slapdash’ construction.
Noteworthy: A 2012 GlobeScan poll showed China as more popular than the United States. In 2014, China remained in the top 10, but fell below the United States, which also lost ground among its closest allies; the UK, France and Germany.
But this is the kind of opening the United States needs. It is now February 2015, more than 180 days since President Obama instituted his Steering Group on Africa. Everyone knows that whatever this group recommends will be good for the U.S. partnership with Africa because it will translate into a bigger and more coordinated American effort into preventing China from overwhelming America’s private sector in Africa.
For some reason, the Africans, like Museveni suggested, may be rooting for the Americans. Many of them, after all, grew up on Hollywood movies and television shows. China is aggressively countering this, of course, with their state-sanctioned movies, and they may be having an impact: Uganda’s growing cinema industry is upping its ante on producing kung fu movies.
