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America’s Wake-Up Call: Countering China’s Grip on Africa

For decades, the U.S. neglected Africa, allowing China to dominate. Biden’s Angola visit signals a shift, with Washington reclaiming influence as Africa becomes a key geopolitical battleground.

President Joe Biden participates in the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit, at the Carrinho Food Processing Factory in Lobito, Angola. (Photo Courtesy of Official White House Photo via Adam Schultz)

During Joe Biden’s presidency, the United States confronted multiple global crises across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. While the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon captured many Americans’ attention, the Biden Administration made decisive moves to bolster relations with key allies across the African continent.

As strategic competition between the United States and China intensified, Biden’s administration strengthened ties with African counterparts through various partnerships and initiatives. Given this, it’s no surprise Biden would eventually visit the continent. 

But to intentionally visit Angola in his last weeks as president, shows there is certainly a deeper purpose in mind. 

As America began to monitor China’s rise to a rivaling economic power, it became overwhelmingly clear that China’s technological development in electronic vehicles (EV), military hardware, 5G, AI and other capabilities were not homegrown, but rather driven by critical resources in Africa. 

The significance of this development was no mystery, but the collective shock that was 9/11 and its preceding War on Terror diverted critical resources away from parts of the world that deserved far more attention, i.e sub-Saharan Africa. 

So, as China grew richer and richer under the radar, America was distracted, descending into a 20-year geopolitical coma in the Middle East, and therefore allowed the rise of its most formidable adversary. In this time, America, known in the World Wars as the difference-making Sleeping Giant, effectively went to bed. After finally waking up, there is much work to do.

Shortly after 9/11, China began strategically creating partners in Africa with renewed vigor, beginning negotiations to establish a line of credit to aid Angola’s post-civil-war reconstruction efforts as early as 2002. 

Since then, China has expanded on this strategy, increasing its footprint across the continent. Capitalizing on long-standing grievances toward U.S.-based financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, China quickly became the continent’s largest trading partner in 2009, four years before the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

However, with each installment of foreign aid, reports have begun to surface of African leaders accusing the Asian power of foul play

Likewise, the issue of Chinese investment has expanded into the public sphere, sparking continent-wide debate online.

A sentiment analysis of social media across all 54 African states, Jeffrey Barrett, Head of Africa and Middle East Intelligence Analysis at Arcanum Global concludes that despite the loans and investments, the high-level visits and talk of cultural harmony with African people, China is hated. Barrett believes it should be no surprise. 

“They get exploited, they get broken promises, they get lack of infrastructure, maintenance, no training, and they’re not treated as equals,” Barrett said.

They argued that foreign aid was being intentionally used as an economic ploy in a policy known as debt-trap diplomacy, referring to a system where loans are extended with the intent of creating dependency and is a dangerous weapon when employed against developing states. 

In Africa, however, it is worse, as the system enables China the right to extract political or economic concessions whenever the borrower proves unable to repay the loan. 

This scenario has played out all across Africa, undoubtedly intending to spread dependency and control in a way that would make a 19th-century colonizer jealous. For many African states, this is not a hypothetical scenario but a dangerous reality and Angola serves as one powerful example out of many. 

With approximately $17 billion in debt, according to Reuters, Angola stands as the most indebted African country to Beijing. Recognizing the dangers of this dependency, Angolan leadership moved to invite US President Joe Biden to provide a balance to China’s extensive influence.

During his visit last December, Biden announced US financial support for the Lobito Corridor rail system, a project of significant strategic importance, which redirects the flow of copper, cobalt, coltan, and other critical minerals away from China’s orbit. 

The Lobito Corridor is more than a simple rail system; it represents a critical lifeline for southern Africa’s economic development and a tactical shift in the growing global competition between the United States and China. This initiative creates a new, sovereign-controlled route for exporting vital minerals key to industries such as electric vehicles, renewable energy, and advanced electronics, resources that China has long dominated to fuel their technological rise. 

China’s BRI established an efficient framework for mineral extraction, using debt-trap diplomacy to secure mining rights and infrastructure control. This exploitation, however, has come at a significant cost to local economies, with limited value-added processing, inadequate reinvestment in infrastructure, and a loss of economic autonomy.

Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley, a former economic analyst for the CIA’s Office of Terrorism Analysis, suggests that this lending strategy presents significant challenges for Africa’s economic growth.

“African countries need to grow rich in the same way everybody else has that is rich, and that is by unleashing human capital in productive ways,” she said. Answering the question as to how “It always starts by trade at home and regional trade.”

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For the United States, the Lobito Corridor is a geopolitical advantage. It challenges China’s dominance in Africa’s critical mineral trade by offering a Western-backed alternative for regional development. This strategy shows America’s renewed support for African sovereignty while signaling to other African nations that partnerships with the West can offer sustainable, mutually beneficial growth without falling into dependency.

Ultimately, the Lobito Corridor is a win for all involved, except for China. It strengthens Southern African economies, reduces their reliance on Chinese markets, and secures the United States a stronger foothold in one of the most resource-rich regions on the planet. 

As the first trains roll down the tracks of this transformative project, they carry not just minerals but the promise of a more balanced and equitable future for Angola and its neighbors. And for the U.S., they represent a critical step toward reclaiming lost influence and promoting a vision of global cooperation that prioritizes partnership over exploitation.

Copy edited by Aniyah Genama

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