{"id":50924,"date":"2024-01-23T16:50:29","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T16:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship"},"modified":"2024-01-23T17:48:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T17:48:50","slug":"liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship","title":{"rendered":"Liberia: Boakai Raises Questions Over U.S.-Liberia Relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>President Joseph Boakai has questioned Liberia\u2019s 160-year-old relationship with the U.S., which remains its biggest traditional partner and wields significant shadow political influences.<\/p>\n

In his inaugural address, Boakai believes that the U.S-Liberia relationship, which began in 1864, 17 years after the former declared independence, is much more theoretical with little or no practical substance to show.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiberia\u2019s relationship with the United States of America is spoken about in glorious terms,\u201d said Boakai in the presence of a high-power U.S. delegation led by Linda Thomas Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. \u201cBut on the eve of our 177th anniversary, we are yet to show how we have made this traditional relationship work for us in ways that have helped the transformation this country craves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not to suggest, however, that we are not aware of the debate over the dynamics of two centuries of a relationship nurtured across the Atlantic,\u201d he said. \u201cBut given this long relationship, it is a bit discomforting to be found debating about how we, as a country, are still struggling to come to terms with the extent to which we think the relationship might benefit us.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Boakai believes that while Liberia \u201cdeserves more\u201d from its relationship with the U.S., it cannot be remiss \u201cif we did not mention that we cannot ask the United States to do for us what we can do for ourselves,\u201d which includes leveraging the relationship for the good of the \u201ccountry.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, he said he is not expecting American taxpayer money to support the country\u2019s development needs when government officials \u201cembezzle public funds\u201d with impunity, and government officials personally pocket taxes raised locally.<\/p>\n

Some experts fear that Boakai’s blunt questioning of the U.S. relationship in the presence of its high-ranking relationship delegates made it insinuating that his administration might not be an arena for America\u2019s geopolitical game of chess with China.<\/p>\n

This comes after the outgoing Weah administration developed a foreign policy that was pleasant to the U.S—going as far as joining 43 other countries to denounce and criticize China’s human rights record at the United Nations, particularly the detainment of Uyghurs in the western region of Xinjiang.<\/p>\n

The vote in 2021 saw Liberia, which has benefited much in terms of development aid, joining Eswatini to become the only two African countries to rebuke Beijing\u2019s alleged repressive actions in Xinjiang — catching China by surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is shocked and disappointed that Liberia, a good friend and brother of China, is among those countries that have supported this \u201cjoint statement,\u201d and it is, in fact, the only African country that has diplomatic relations with China that has done so,\u201d said the Chinese Ambassador, Ren Yisheng. \u201cWe sincerely hope that Liberia can keep her eyes open, discern the truth, not be deceived by those with ulterior motives, and stand on the side of correctness and justice with concrete actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yisheng’s response, which came about two months after the votes, led to the stalling of several Chinese earmarked projects, including the overhead bridge, which has been built on Congon Town Boulevard. The President’s remarks also came just a day after Greenfield on Sunday declared the U.S\u2019 unwavering commitment to Liberia under the incoming Boakai-Koung administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States has always supported Liberia, not just in this administration but in previous administrations and Liberia\u2019s time of need. During war, during COVID, during Ebola, we have been here for Liberia and we intend to be here for Liberia under this new President,\u201d Greenfield said. \u201cLiberia made history in this region to have a peaceful transition of power, and that says a great deal about this country, and we want to continue to support Liberia much to a stronger democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Boakai, while the U.S-Liberia relationship has not yielded much, he believes he can make the relationship work for the benefit of the country as he eyes a partnership with the United States in ways that promote an equitable society. He discussed the idea of \u201cworking with the U.S. to build our democracy,\u201d to end the culture of corruption and impunity, and promote deep economic and cultural cooperation while collaborating on serious global challenges to \u201clift the relationship to a mutually beneficial level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder our leadership, we will strive for Liberia to rise and take its rightful place in the world as a leader in global affairs, maintaining its traditional liberal and democratic ideals at home while fostering international cooperation driven by development diplomacy focused on a repurposed national development agenda aimed at giving our people better livelihoods,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Boakai, he will strengthen cooperation with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union, while fostering \u201cSouth-South cooperation\u201d to address mutual developmental issues in the global south.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. President Joseph Boakai has questioned Liberia\u2019s 160-year-old relationship with the U.S., which remains its biggest traditional partner and wields significant shadow political influences. In his inaugural address, Boakai believes that the U.S-Liberia relationship, which began in 1864, 17 years after the former declared independence, is much more theoretical with little or no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":50923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12,244],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-50924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nLiberia: Boakai Raises Questions Over U.S.-Liberia Relationship - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Joseph Boakai has questioned Liberia\u2019s 160-year-old relationship with the U.S., which remains its biggest trad ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liberia: Boakai Raises Questions Over U.S.-Liberia Relationship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Joseph Boakai has questioned Liberia\u2019s 160-year-old relationship with the U.S., which remains its biggest trad ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-23T16:50:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-23T17:48:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/sm_1706019236.761328.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Liberia: Boakai Raises Questions Over U.S.-Liberia Relationship\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-23T16:50:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-23T17:48:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship\"},\"wordCount\":828,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/sm_1706019236.761328.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Liberia\",\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-boakai-raises-questions-over-u-s-liberia-relationship\",\"name\":\"Liberia: Boakai Raises Questions Over U.S.-Liberia Relationship - 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