The New Scramble for Africa: China Seen Outpacing US

FORMER President Barack Obama “pivoted” toward Africa, his predecessor Donald Trump away from it and current U.S. leader Joe Biden has had his hands full with the pandemic at home and now the war in Ukraine.

But in an address to lawmakers on Capitol Hill last week, the commander for U.S. forces in Africa pointed to China’s dominance in a region vital to America’s security and economic growth and warned that Washington ignores Africa at its peril.

“China’s heavy investment in Africa as its ‘second continent,’ and heavy-handed pursuit of its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, is fueling Chinese economic growth, outpacing the U.S., and allowing it to exploit opportunities to their benefit,” U.S. Africa Command Gen. Stephen Townsend told the House Committee on Appropriations, echoing comments he made last month to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Townsend’s remarks come amid a burst of Chinese diplomacy with the continent. Foreign Minister