Biden’s China challenge in Africa resists summit quick fix

What's next in U.S.-China relations.

Dec 15, 2022 View in browser   By Phelim Kine President Joe Biden speaks to African leaders gathered for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, Dec. 14, 2022, in Washington. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo Hi, China Watchers. This week we unpack President Joe Biden's African Leaders' Summit ambitions and examine how Brittney Griner's release has fueled demands for prisoner swaps to free wrongfully detained U.S. citizens in China. We'll also parse Chinese state media's rear view mirror salute to Beijing's zero-Covid policy and profile a book that unpacks the competitive advantages of Chinese diplomacy in Africa. Let's get to it. — Phelim President JOE BIDEN closes out his U.S.-African Leaders' Summit today. And the three-day event marked his administration's implicit challenge to China's economic and diplomatic primacy on the continent. That's a tall order. China is the number one trading partner of sub-Saharan African countries through imports of everything from textiles to smartphones while purchasing massive volumes of African agricultural products and commodities including copper and oil. And Beijing has disbursed billions in infrastructure lending and foreign aid across Africa over the past two decades. The Biden administration has spent the past three days trying to convince the 49 leaders invited to the event that the U.S. government's tradition of what some critics call benign neglect toward Africa is over. And that the U.S. has the resources and resolve to rival Beijing's decades of diplomatic and economic wooing of the continent. Read my full story on Biden's China challenge in Africa here. U.S. Trade Representative KATHERINE TAI set the tone on Tuesday by declaring that "the future is Africa" in a meeting with African trade ministers. National security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN backed that rhetoric by announcing that the administration will spend $55 billion in Africa over the next three years to tackle issues including "economic growth, health and security." Vice President KAMALA HARRIS added to the summit's financial sweeteners by announcing a one billion dollar pledge "to finance American commercial investment in Africa" through the U.S. Export-Import Bank. And the administration has created a Special Representative for U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit Implementation to ensure that the U.S. actually delivers on those commitments. Beijing is not amused. "Africa is not a wrestling ground for major-country rivalry," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson WANG WENBIN said on Wednesday. At least one African leader rejected any suggestion that African countries should have to choose between U.S. and Chinese diplomatic alignment. "I don't think we need to be bullied into making a choice between the U.S. or China…we need to have both as partners," Rwanda's President PAUL KAGAME said at the Semafor Africa Summit on Wednesday. China's unjustly jailed Americans deserve Griner-style prisoner swap, say relatives Some relatives of U.S. citizens wrongfully detained in China are angry about the Biden administration's apparent reluctance to use prisoner swaps to get their family members home. Those relatives and their advocates say that the strategy that freed basketball star BRITTNEY GRINER from a Russian prison last week may be the only way to broker the release of relatives who have been arbitrarily jailed in China for years. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told China's top diplomat, YANG JIECHI, in June that releasing Americans wrongfully detained or subject to exit bans is a "personal priority for both himself and for the president," a senior administration official said in a background press briefing following the meeting. But relatives of those unjustly jailed in China complain that they're not seeing concrete action aimed to release their loved ones. The State Department designates only three U.S. citizens as wrongfully detained in China: KAI LI, MARK SWIDAN and DAVID LIN. But the nonprofit prisoner release advocacy organization Dui Hua Foundation estimates the number of Americans wrongfully detained in China is much higher, arguing there are at least 200 unjustly imprisoned U.S. citizens in China and as many as 30 who are subject to unlawful exit bans. Biden should "act much more quickly and much more forcefully and with the same urgency that [he] did with the Griner case," said HARRISON LI, son of Kai Li. Prisoner trades "are the one tool that seems to work and it's one of the tools that we'll be pushing." Read my full story here.  Operation desert snooze: Xi Jinping's Saudi outreach flop  Chinese President XI JINPING'S trip to Saudi Arabia last week fell short in positioning Beijing as a potential rival to U.S. diplomatic dominance in the region. Despite Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson MAO NING's breathless prediction last week that Xi's trip to Saudi Arabia would be "epoch-making," there were few signs that it meaningfully advanced the bilateral relationship. The Chinese Foreign Ministry readout of the results of Xi's meeting with Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, Crown Prince MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, touted bland expressions of support for "more outcomes in bilateral cooperation in all areas" rather than groundbreaking initiatives. And although Xi refloated a long-mooted deal to abandon U.S. dollar transactions for some of Riyadh's oil sales to Beijing in favor of China's currency, the renminbi, his hosts didn't commit to doing so. That reflects the Saudis' distrust of Beijing due to its close ties with Riyadh's nemesis Iran. Xi did convince bin Salman to sign a memorandum of understanding – a step removed from a binding contract – for some hardware provided by Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei. The FCC declared Huawei a "national security threat" in 2020 and lawmakers including TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) and CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-Md.) introduced a bill on Tuesday that would "severely sanction" the company by blocking its access to the U.S. financial system. But that agreement is likely more form than substance. "I continue to be surprised at the breathlessness in reportage of all of this – that 'the Saudis are now allied with the PRC'… nothing of the kind happened," said DAVID SATTERFIELD , former principal deputy assistant secretary for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. "There was a lot of optics and symbolism for both Xi and [bin Salman], but those optics didn't go very far, there were no breakthrough deals and… the Saudis are well aware of the risks and vulnerabilities with any form of Huawei presence." 4 Startling Ways China Is Challenging the U.S. Some of the increasing competition between Beijing and Washington has been plain to see: New Chinese aircraft carriers, fifth-generation fighter planes and airstrips in the South China Sea that are facing off against U.S. megabases in places like Guam and deepening military partnerships with Australia and Taiwan. Beijing is also playing a quieter game, using non-military means to propel its push for influence and dominance across the Indo-Pacific and beyond, POLITICO's PAUL MCLEARY reported on Wednesday. These moves pose a trickier but no less belligerent set of challenges to the U.S. and its allies than China's overt military buildup — whether it's China deputizing commercial fishing ships to act as extensions of its Navy, it pumping money into private tech firms building drones and semiconductors for export across the globe, or allowing government censors to dip into social media algorithms used by American teenagers. Read Paul's full story in POLITICO Magazine here TRANSLATING WASHINGTON — RUBIO, SMITH TARGET HK REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES: Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) and Rep. CHRIS SMITH (R-N.J.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that will strip the Hong Kong government's U.S.-based representative offices of their diplomatic privileges. The bill will require Biden to certify if the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office locations have a "high degree of autonomy from the People's Republic of China" and require their closure if they don't meet that standard. U.S.-based Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have criticized those offices as malign propaganda outlets for Hong Kong authorities executing Beijing's directives to steamroll the territory's rights and freedoms.  — LAWMAKERS: SHUT OFF TIKTOK: Rubio and Reps. MIKE GALLAGHER (R-Wis.) and RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-Ill.) introduced legislation in the Senate and the House on Tuesday to force the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok from operating in the U.S. The platform is "addicting Americans, collecting troves of their data and censoring their news," Gallagher said in a statement. The lawmakers' move follows FBI Director CHRISTOPHER WRAY's warning last month that the platform poses a national security risk. — BURNS BLASTS BEIJING'S RIGHTS RECORD: U.S. ambassador to China, NICHOLAS BURNS, marked International Human Rights Day by decrying the Chinese government's human rights record. Burns singled out "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang" in a statement issued Saturday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson WANG WENBIN said on Monday that Burns' comments revealed the "bullying nature of the U.S." — STATE: JIMMY LAI SENTENCE 'GROSSLY UNJUST': State Department spokesperson NED PRICE denounced a Hong Kong court's decision to sentence Hong Kong media magnate and pro-democracy activist JIMMY LAI to more than five years in prison for alleged fraud. The U.S. "condemns the grossly unjust outcome of Jimmy Lai's latest trial sentencing," Price tweeted on Saturday. The Chinese government's Hong Kong representative office shot back by calling Price's comments "irresponsible." Lai also faces prosecution under the territory's draconian national security law for allegedly masterminding an "international propaganda campaign" aimed to reap foreign sanctions against China. Hot from the China Watchersphere Matthew Leung/The Chaser News — BRITAIN BOOTS BEIJING'S DIPLOMAT BRAWLERS:  The United Kingdom has ordered the removal of six Chinese diplomats implicated in the assault and apparent abduction attempt of a pro-democracy protester outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester in October. That violence was "disgraceful" and "unacceptable," the U.K.'s Foreign Minister JAMES CLEVERLY tweeted on Wednesday. — BEIJING CORKS TAIWAN BOOZE IMPORTS: Beijing restricted imports of some Taiwanese alcohol products including Taiwan Beer and Kavalan Whisky last week. Chinese authorities haven't given a reason for the import block. It follows Beijing's restrictions on imports of Taiwanese fruit and fish in August in reprisal for House Speaker NANCY PELOSI's visit to the self-governing island. Taiwan's Foreign Minister JOSEPH WU wisecracked on Twitter that Beijing was denying its people "the great taste of freedom." — CHINA FILES WTO CASE OVER CHIPS: Beijing has filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization over the U.S. government's move to restrict semiconductor exports to China. China's Ministry of Commerce issued a statement on Monday that justified the complaint on the basis that the export restrictions were "threatening the stability of the global industrial chain supply chain."  — ANOTHER CHINA-INDIA BORDER BATTLE: Indian and Chinese forces clashed in hand-to-hand fighting last week on the two countries' disputed Himalayan border line. "The Chinese soldiers came inside Indian territory and attacked our soldiers," Indian lawmaker TAPIR GAO told The Telegraph. A similar incident in 2021 resulted in the deaths of four Chinese troops. Wang at the Chinese Foreign Ministry dodged a question about the incident by describing the border region as "generally stable" on Tuesday. TRANSLATING CHINA A child wearing a mask reacts near a photo showing Chinese President Xi Jinping at an exhibition on the city's fight against the coronavirus in Wuhan on Jan. 23, 2021. | Ng Han Guan/AP Photo — XI'S STATE MEDIA COVID CALAMITY COVER: Xi's signature dynamic Covid-zero policy is in full retreat. In a matter of days the government — in apparent response to recent mass protests — has rolled back a policy geared to relentless testing and lockdowns of entire cities. That backpedal climaxed when the country's color-coded Covid app — which controlled Chinese citizens' access to everything from supermarkets to public transit based on suspected Covid exposures —went offline on Monday. Now infections are soaring and health experts are warning of a "wave of disease and death" due to the government's failure to adequately vaccinate vulnerable people. China faces a "very tough and difficult time," World Health Organization spokesperson MARGARET HARRIS warned on Tuesday. China's state news agency Xinhua is responding to that bad news with a sunnier narrative that focuses on zero-Covid's — and Xi's — pre-Omicron glory days. When the government — supported by state media reporting of soaring overseas Covid death tolls — enjoyed relatively passive public acceptance of a draconian policy that inarguably minimized infections and deaths. Xinhua ran an article last week that lionized Xi as the leader of China's "tough but extraordinary fight" against Covid. The article punctuated that praise with a 21-date tick-tock timeline of key Chinese government Covid control measures. Each date lists a policy initiative explicitly credited to Xi's inspiration and resolve. They include:  Feb. 3 2020: Xi "sent 1,400 medics to Wuhan on a mission to treat Covid-19 patients." March 26, 2020: Xi "played a crucial role in rallying international solidarity to fight the pandemic." March 6, 2021: Xi "stressed 'strategic priority' to safeguarding people's health." Xinhua said the quiet part out loud by stating that the article aims "to reveal what was done right" by Xi's zero-Covid policy. And to underscore its objective of "putting people's lives and health above all else." The final date in the timeline, Nov. 10, distances Xi from this month's reversal of zero-Covid by attributing to the "Chinese government" – not Xi – a decision for "more science-based and targeted epidemic responses." That insulates Xi from responsibility from any surge in Covid deaths and distances the repeal of zero-Covid from the protests that erupted in major Chinese citizens 15 days later. Protests that the government refuses to publicly acknowledge ever occurred. HEADLINES NPR: "How facial recognition allowed the Chinese government to target minority groups" The Atlantic: "Zero Covid's failure is Xi Jinping's Failure" Financial Times: "Former PLA officer says China is restraining Russia over use of nuclear weapons" HEADS UP — COUNTDOWN BEGINS TO BLINKEN'S CHINA TRIP: Chinese and U.S. officials have started preparing for Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN's trip to China early next year. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs DANIEL KRITENBRINK and National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan LAURA ROSENBERGER were part of a preparatory team that met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister XIE FENG on Sunday and Monday in Hebei province's Langfang city. Xie gave a sneak peak of what Blinken will hear in Beijing by schooling Kritenbrink and Rosenberger on the "proper handling" of the Taiwan issue, Wang at the Foreign Ministry said Monday.   One Book, Three Questions University of Michigan Press The Book: Shaping the Future of Power: Knowledge Production and Network-Building in China-African Relations The Author: LINA BENABDALLAH Responses have been edited for length and clarity. What is the most important takeaway from your book? Relations between China and African nations are not limited to infrastructure construction projects and economic investments. Some of the most important aspects of China-Africa relations are human capital and social capital investments. These investments include party-to-party relations between the CCP and African political parties, exchanges between military officers and scholarships for higher education degrees. They create a space for elites from across the African continent to get to learn about and experience first-hand, China's development success and its political system.  What was the most surprising thing you learned while researching and writing this book? Once I started seeing China-Africa relations from the prism of network-building and social capital investments, it became evident that the relationship was far more expansive and intricate, and spanned across a wide swatch of professions and specialties.  What does your book tell us about the trajectory and future of U.S. efforts to counter China's deepening diplomatic and economic engagement in Africa? There is a robust resistance in Africa to the idea that Africans must choose a side — either the U.S. or China. This suggests that there is more room for cooperation than confrontation in Africa. However, U.S. foreign policy making would benefit greatly from understanding what their African counterparts think, what they want, and how they think of themselves regionally and globally. For this to happen, there is a vital need to increase communication, dialogue and cross-cultural exchanges in respectful ways. Got a book to recommend? Tell me about it at pkine@politico.com. Thanks to: Heidi Vogt, Matt Kaminski, Paul McLeary and digital producer Andrew Howard. Do you have tips? Chinese-language stories we might have missed? Would you like to contribute to China Watcher or comment on this week's items? Email us at chinawatcher@politico.com.   Follow us

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