Barrack Obama pokes China over Africa deals, says America's offers are real

The economic arm-wrestle between the US and China resurfaced during President Barack Obama’s six-day tour of Kenya and Ethiopia.

While delivering an address at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Obama said economic partnerships should be beneficial to both parties.


"Economic relationships cannot simply be about other countries building infrastructure with foreign labour or extracting Africa's natural resources," he said.

"Real economic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa. They have to create jobs and capacity for Africans. That's the kind of partnership America offers."

Obama’s remarks come in the wake of various reports by state-run Chinese media outlets terming the tours a knee-jerk reaction to China’s economic dominance on the African continent.








The Global Times, which is a publication of the ruling Communist People’s Party, said the trip by Obama affirms the US’s view of China as a rival in Africa.

The paper reported that "offsetting China's growing influence in this continent [Africa] and recovering past US leverage," were the main agenda of Obama's tour.

Xinhua News Agency, another state-run organisation, said US presence in the continent is largely inconsequential in comparison to China, with visible presence in infrastructure especially roads.

"Obama may have to work even harder if he wants to build his legacy on a continent where US commitment has long been questioned," Xinhua said.

Prior to his trip to Kenya on July 24, Obama told the BBC America has no problems with China’s influence on the African continent, but such economic partnerships should benefit the ordinary citizen.

“China has - over the last several years, because of the surplus that they've accumulated in global trade and the fact that they're not accountable to their constituencies, been able to funnel an awful lot of money into Africa, basically in exchange for raw materials that are being extracted from Africa,” Obama said.

“We welcome Chinese aid into Africa. I think we think that's a good thing. We don't want to discourage it. As I've said before, what I want to make sure though is that trade is benefiting the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Guinean and not just a few elites.”

In his opening remarks at the recently concluded Sixth Global Entrepreneurship Summit, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Kenya is neither aligned to the East nor the West.

“In this new paradigm, we cannot afford the luxury of the old language of East versus West. Kenya is aligned to neither; we are, firmly and irreversibly, aligned to progress,” he said.