The African proxy game

John Bolton, the US national security adviser, suggested tha the Chinese and Russian “predatory practice” in Africa have threatened the US’s strategic, military and economic interests on Africa. His claims have in some ways given up the moral ground for the American intervention and actions in Africa that the US spent on development, security and food aid was pointed out by him to advance the American interests in Africa, instead of actually providing humanitarian support. The strategy suggested by Bolton sounds quite “ancient”, it is basically what was used by the US and the USSR during the Cold War, a proxy war.

Bolton wants to make African countries choose their sides between China or Russia and the US, and they cannot choose both. All countries care about their own interests, there is nothing wrong about this. However, as Grant Harris, Mr Obama’s former adviser on African policy pointed out, “it is unnecessary to cast everything was some scramble for resources or great-power game”; Bolton’s words are also heard by African countries as well, and likely to cause some degree of opposition. Based on some studies, China is ahead of the US in terms of influence over Africa that there are more African students now studying in China than in the US or the UK and China is also leading on infrastructure programmes in Africa.

Bolton has made the US strategy and goal too bold which can cause some opposition from Africa. The game between China, Russia and the US can have different outcomes, but these outcomes have one common thing that African countries are highly likely to be the victims of the super-power game.