By PHELIM KINE<\/b><\/p>\n
Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>Hi, China Watchers. This week we unpack the Biden administration\u2019s flurry of China-countering Africa diplomacy and canvass the priorities of newly appointed GOP members of the House Select Committee on China.<\/p>\n And in the spirit of the Chinese government\u2019s diplomatic charm offensive, we profile a book that examines Beijing\u2019s spotty success record with global influence campaigns. Let\u2019s get to it. \u2014 Phelim Beijing no longer owns early New Year high level diplomatic engagement with Africa.<\/p>\n Hot on the heels of Chinese Foreign Minister QIN GANG\u2019s Jan. 9-16 trip to Gabon, Ethiopia, Benin, Egypt and Angola, the Biden administration has launched a flurry of outreach with African countries \u2014 an apparent bid to push back against Beijing\u2019s rising influence in the region.<\/p>\n The administration is playing catch-up \u2014 Qin\u2019s trip marked the 33rd year that China\u2019s foreign minister has made Africa his first foreign destination of the year. Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN kicked off a 12-day swing through Senegal, Zambia and South Africa on Jan. 17. U. S.<\/p>\n Trade Representative KATHERINE TAI met with South African Minister of Trade and Industry EBRAHIM PATEL on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.<\/p>\n Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN called Ethiopia\u2019s Prime Minister ABIY AHMED to discuss the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement in the country\u2019s restive Tigray region on Saturday.<\/p>\n The next day LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, the U. S. representative to the United Nations, announced she would visit Kenya, Mozambique and Ghana on Jan. 25-29 \u201cto affirm and strengthen our partnerships\u201d with former and current U.<\/p>\n N. Security Council members. \u201cIt\u2019s supercharged . . . and it demonstrates that we\u2019re serious,\u201d said LOUIS MAZEL, former director of the State Department\u2019s Africa Bureau\u2019s Office of Regional and Security Affairs.<\/p>\n That intensity of U. S. diplomatic outreach to Africa marks President JOE BIDEN\u2019s resolve to follow through on his declaration last month at the U. S-African Leaders\u2019 summit that he \u201cis all in on Africa and all in with Africa.<\/p>\n \u201d It also highlights his administration\u2019s implicit challenge to China\u2019s economic and diplomatic primacy on the continent.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of high-level U. S.<\/p>\n officials now all of a sudden going to Africa is pretty well unprecedented,\u201d said TIBOR NAGY, former assistant secretary of State for African Affairs.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd say it or not, of course this is about China.<\/p>\n \u201d Yellen has made China\u2019s lending practices in Africa a key talking point. She made an implicit dig at Chinese debt trap diplomacy in a speech in Dakar, Senegal on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe international community, including China, needs to provide meaningful debt relief to help [African] countries regain their footing,\u201d Yellen said.<\/p>\n Yellen took another swing at Beijing on Monday in Zambia by urging private sector and bilateral lenders \u201cto meaningfully participate in debt relief for Zambia, especially China.<\/p>\n \u201d The Chinese embassy retaliated with a blistering statement on Tuesday that accused the U. S. of \u201csabotaging other sovereign countries\u2019 active efforts to solve their debt issues. \u201d<\/p>\n Yellen has proposed unspecified adjustments in multilateral development bank lending in Africa \u201cto better tackle both traditional development needs and increasingly complex global challenges.<\/p>\n \u201d But she and other senior administration officials will need to offer more than rhetoric to persuade African leaders to strengthen ties with the U. S.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s got to be some substance coming out of these meetings \u2014 Africans are not dumb and if they see us just showing up and then nothing happening afterwards, they\u2019ll get discouraged,\u201d said DAVID SHINN, a former ambassador to Ethiopia with extensive diplomatic experience across Africa.<\/p>\n Economic sweeteners will be key. China is the number one trading partner of sub-Saharan African countries. They import Chinese goods ranging from textiles to smartphones, and China purchases massive volumes of African agricultural products and commodities including copper and oil.<\/p>\n Beijing has also disbursed billions in infrastructure lending and foreign aid across Africa over the past two decades. Big ticket economic incentives for African countries to deepen their relationship with the U.<\/p>\n S. may emerge during upcoming trips to the continent later this year by other senior administration officials. Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO announced last month that she will visit Africa this year \u201cjoined by leading American companies and investors.<\/p>\n \u201d Biden has also pledged to come to Africa in 2023.<\/p>\n Africa watchers are monitoring if Biden dispatches a senior administration official to attend next month\u2019s African Union heads of state meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be great if someone like Secretary Blinken attended the AU summit \u2014 it would really underscore our commitment to pay more attention to Africa,\u201d said Mazel, the former State official.<\/p>\n New China Select Committee GOP Members Sound Off House Speaker KEVIN MCCARTHY on Monday published the list of the 12 GOP members of the new House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the U.<\/p>\n S. and the Chinese Communist Party who\u2019ll work under committee chair Rep. MIKE GALLAGHER (R-Wis. ). China Watcher canvassed that lucky dozen on their priorities and their responses are below.<\/p>\n Spoiler alert \u2014 the mood is hawkish. I\u2019ll do likewise with the committee\u2019s Democratic members once House Minority Leader HAKEEM JEFFRIES announces them. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Rep. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-Fla. )<\/p>\n Communist China steals our technological achievements, spies on America, threatens our allies and cheats the global economy with its blatantly unethical tactics.<\/p>\n The 21st century will be defined by the United States\u2019 ability to effectively combat Communist China and its proxies. Congress must innovate quickly and powerfully to put the brakes on the CCP\u2019s nefarious, dangerous worldview. Rep. DARIN LAHOOD (R-Ill. )<\/p>\n I intend to work with members on both sides of the aisle to bolster and secure our supply chains, promote our trade interests and leadership in the Indo-Pacific, prioritize our technology modernization, and protect our national and cyber security against China.<\/p>\n Rep. ROB WITTMAN (R-Va. ) I am particularly focused on the efforts we must take to build resilient supply chains to support our national security. We must secure our economy from the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s coercive activities and maintain our military advantage for decades to come.<\/p>\n Rep. DAN NEWHOUSE (R-Wash. ) The United States is engaged in a great power struggle with the CCP, and we must respond with tough policies that will protect our farmland.<\/p>\n I will continue leading the charge. . . to ensure our agriculture industry and food supply chain is protected from any and all attacks, overt or otherwise. Rep. BLAINE LUETEKEMEYER (R-Mo. )<\/p>\n The CCP has a stated goal of overtaking the United States as the world\u2019s superpower, and it has proven willing to do anything \u2014 from IP theft to forced child labor \u2014 to achieve that goal.<\/p>\n My focus will be on the weaponization of China\u2019s economy and its influence on ours. Rep. MICHELLE STEEL (R-Calif. ) I\u2019ll hold the CCP accountable for their horrific violations of human rights, their theft of U. S. intellectual property and secure U. S. supply chains, and strengthen U. S. trade competitiveness. Rep. ANDY BARR (R-Ky. )<\/p>\n Our committee must confront American investors unwittingly fueling the rise of CCP military and surveillance companies, defend Taiwanese sovereignty, and combat the rampant theft of American intellectual property.<\/p>\n Rep. JIM BANKS (R-Ind. ) Rebuilding our Navy is one of my top priorities for countering China and developing the first compressive strategy for confronting Communist China in Congress.<\/p>\n Rep. JOHN MOOLENAAR (R-Mi. ) China is buying U. S. farmland, stealing inventions, jeopardizing the health of every person in the world, and building up its military while threatening its neighbors.<\/p>\n I look forward to working with my colleagues to address all of these issues, as well as our nation\u2019s supply chain concerns. Rep. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-S. D.) We need to address the threats posed by China to our food security and national security. Rep. NEAL DUNN (R-Fla. ) China is a foreign agitator and a serious threat to the United States and our allies.<\/p>\n Over-reliance on imported medical supplies from China compromises national security, the stability of our healthcare system and the security of our nation overall.<\/p>\n CHINA TURNS ON THE CHARM Chinese diplomats are fanning out with a new softer message for international partners and adversaries alike. Gone is the aggressive \u201cwolf warrior\u201d rhetoric.<\/p>\n In its place, a warmer tone and a promise of economic cooperation. That\u2019s included Foreign Minister QIN GANG beaming into the Washington Wizards-Orlando Magic game via video on Saturday to offer Lunar New Year greeting s to the crowd.<\/p>\n It gets better: \u201cChinese zodiac rabbits were tossed to the audience and triggered a \u2018scramble,\u2019\u201d Chinese embassy spokesperson LIU PENGYU tweeted on Sunday.<\/p>\n But there are suspicions that the engagement drive is more diplomatic sparkle than a shift in Beijing\u2019s policy settings. Read the full story here here from me, POLITICO Europe\u2019s STUART LAU and MATT KAMINSKI.<\/p>\n TRANSLATING WASHINGTON \u2014BIDEN EXTENDS HONG KONGERS\u2019 DEPORTATION PROTECTION: The Biden administration today extended a program that protects Hong Kong residents in the U. S. from deportation.<\/p>\n That will allow Hong Kongers facing potential deportation due to the looming Feb. 5 expiry of the Deferred Enforced Departure for Certain Hong Kong Citizens to remain in the U.<\/p>\n S. until Jan. 26, 2025. The White House has also expanded the number of people who may benefit from DED by making any Hong Kong residents present in the U.<\/p>\n S. today, Jan. 26, eligible to apply for the program. Hong Kongers in the U. S. \u201ccan breathe a sigh of relief,\u201d said Samuel Chu, president of the nonprofit The Campaign for Hong Kong.<\/p>\n Read my full story here. \u2014TRONE PUSHES BLINKEN ON CHINESE OPIOIDS: Rep. DAVID TRONE (D-Md. ) wants Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN to make the issue of China\u2019s role in the U. S. opioid crisis a top priority in his Feb. 5-6 meetings in Beijing.<\/p>\n Synthetic opioids derived from chemical precursors \u201cmanufactured in the PRC, then shipped to Mexico where they are synthesized and then trafficked into the United States\u201d are killing Americans, Trone, co-chair of Biden\u2019s Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, said in a letter to Blinken on Monday.<\/p>\n Trone urged Blinken to push for rules requiring Chinese chemical firms to identify buyers of precursor chemicals and adopt strict labeling requirements. He also wants Beijing to resume cooperation with the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency.<\/p>\n China suspended high-level bilateral contacts for counternarcotics cooperation in August in reprisal for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s trip to Taiwan.<\/p>\n EU CHALLENGES BEIJING\u2019S BELT AND ROAD: The European Union has lined up 70 international infrastructure development projects \u2014 ranging from a hydroelectric plant to a digital cable under the Black Sea \u2014 to compete with China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative.<\/p>\n Those plans are part of the EU\u2019s new Global Gateway program which aims to mobilize more than $300 billion in public and private funds by 2027 to finance EU infrastructure projects abroad, as POLITICO\u2019s BARBARA MOENS reported on Monday.<\/p>\n MUSLIM SCHOLAR JUNKET DRAWS FIRE: The Chinese government hosted a 30-member delegation of Muslim scholars from countries including Egypt, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia on a tour of Xinjiang earlier this month.<\/p>\n Their aim: mitigate international dismay about human rights abuses in the region by wooing visitors in hopes they\u2019ll parrot the Chinese government\u2019s talking points.<\/p>\n Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson WANG WENBIN said the trip proved that allegations of genocide against Uyghur Muslims were a \u201cdistortion of facts. \u201d Xinjiang experts are unimpressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a desperate attempt by the Chinese to change the narrative, create a softer image in Muslim societies and project a more lovable image around the world,\u201d said NURY TURKEL, a Uyghur-American lawyer and chair of the U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.<\/p>\n Beijing\u2019s Xinjiang junkets (they\u2019ve done similar ones previously) also distract from how foreign companies benefit from \u2014 and help sustain \u2014 Xinjiang\u2019s abusive status quo, said JAMES MILLWARD, a Xinjiang expert and professor of inter-societal history at Georgetown University\u2019s Walsh School of Foreign Service.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are many international corporations desperately trying to look the other way hoping to keep supplying cotton or polysilicon, or building automobiles in the Uyghur region, or importing goods into the U.<\/p>\n S. that could well be made with Uyghur forced labor,\u201d Millward said. Beijing \u201cdoesn\u2019t parade these corporations before the cameras. . . but their continued support for PRC policies is more influential than that of a few debtor nations in Afro-Eurasia. That sharp rise in infections followed Beijing\u2019s abandonment of its zero-Covid policy last month sparking reports of a spiraling death toll, crematoriums overwhelmed with corpses and a stressed health care system.<\/p>\n But Beijing says those dark days are over. State media reported last week that \u201cthe number of severe Covid-19 cases in China has peaked. \u201d WU ZUNYOU, chief epidemiologist at China\u2019s Centers for Disease Control, said in a post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Saturday that a second wave anytime soon is highly unlikely.<\/p>\n Chinese paramount leader XI JINPING is declaring victory. \u201cWe have put people and their lives first. . . we can see the light at the end of the tunnel,\u201d Xi said in his Lunar New Year message on Friday.<\/p>\n That confidence ignores that the virus has traveled from the cities with the millions of Chinese who have returned to their rural area homes for the current Lunar New Year holiday.<\/p>\n That has exposed a vulnerable and largely unvaccinated elderly population to infection. \u201cI think they\u2019re acting like the [viral] dam has been broken and now it\u2019s been drained, but that\u2019s not how this is going to work. Beijing\u2019s recent efforts to vaccinate elderly people reaped World Health Organization praise last week, but comes too late to affect the current outbreak.<\/p>\n Such applause is akin to Beijing \u201cbeing acknowledged for putting on their seatbelt after the accident,\u201d Osterholm said. HEADLINES The Pie News: Chinese students signing \u2018loyalty\u2019 pledges before arrival in Sweden<\/p>\n CNN: \u201cIf war breaks out . . . I will just become cannon fodder\u201d: In Taiwan, ex-conscripts feel unprepared for potential China conflict Financial Times: Red Memory – enforced forgetting and the legacy of the Cultural Revolution HEADS UP<\/p>\n \u2014TASS TOUTS RUSSIA-CHINA NAVAL DRILLS: The Russian state news agency TASS reported Monday that Russian, Chinese and South African naval vessels will hold joint drills in the Indian Ocean Feb. 17-27.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll focus on \u201csharing operational skills and knowledge,\u201d TASS reported, citing an anonymous \u201cmilitary-diplomatic source. \u201d The U. S. is \u201cconcerned\u201d about the drills, DAVID FELDMAN, spokesperson for the U.<\/p>\n S. Embassy in South Africa, told CBS News on Wednesday. This will be the third major Russian-Chinese joint military drill since November. Those exercises included a strategic bomber patrol over the East China Sea in November and naval exercises in the East China Sea last month.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not see a notable or sharp increase in China-Russia exercises, but a steady increase over the past few years,\u201d said M. TAYLOR FRAVEL, director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The joint drills \u201care more about signaling their political alignment and influence than increasing joint operational capability, at least for now.\u201d<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/politico-china-watcher\/2023\/01\/26\/bidens-supercharged-african-diplomacy-00079578<\/b><\/p>\n For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By PHELIM KINE Africa-Press – Mauritius. Hi, China Watchers. This week we unpack the Biden administration\u2019s flurry of China-countering Africa diplomacy and canvass the priorities of newly appointed GOP members of the House Select Committee on China. And in the spirit of the Chinese government\u2019s diplomatic charm offensive, we profile a book that examines Beijing\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":32895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[233,245,474,171,241],"class_list":["post-32897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-african","tag-china","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nA Chinese state media report tweeted by Liu at the Chinese embassy includes soundbites from junket participants decrying foreign \u201cbias\u201d against China and praising preservation of Xinjiang\u2019s \u201cethnic culture.<\/p>\n
\n\u2014CHINA\u2019S COVID CONFIDENCE GAME: Chinese state media is touting an early end to the country\u2019s Covid surge.<\/p>\n
\nwe could have additional rebound infections in these communities where not everyone got infected,\u201d said MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n