Is US-China Cooperation in Africa Possible?

Is US-China Cooperation in Africa Possible?

 Source: The Asia Society Policy Institute posted this week a commentary titled “Avoiding Conflicts and Ensuring U.S.-China Cooperation in Africa: An African Perspective” by Abdeta Beyene, Centre for Dialogue, Research and Cooperation in Addis Ababa.

The author argues that the United States and China have the potential to move beyond competition and instead foster meaningful cooperation in Africa.  He suggests a number of ways that China-US collaboration could work to the benefit of Africa.

Comment:  The author is correct that there is the potential for US-China cooperation in Africa and a number of years ago there actually was some modest cooperation.  The prospect for US-China cooperation in Africa is dependent, however, on the existing Sino-American bilateral relationship, which has been severely strained in recent years.  Until there is significant improvement in the China-US bilateral relationship, there is almost no prospect for collaboration in Africa.