Competition between China and the United States on the African continent appears through infrastructure projects, as Beijing is seeking to revive the “freedom rail”, while Washington supports the Lopito Corridor Project.
Writer Monica Mark says in a report for the “Financial Times” newspaper that China built the “Rail of Freedom” that connects Zambia and Tanzania several decades ago, specifically during the era of leader Mao, where it provided loans without interest at a value of one billion yuan, in which thousands of Chinese workers worked alongside the local population, and at its climax transmitted more than a million tons of copper and consumer goods And passengers annually.
The writer added that due to the lack of financing and mismanagement, the vehicles have become neglected and the bars are dilapidated, but Zambia and Tanzania are currently in negotiations with an alliance led by a Chinese company to rehabilitate and operate the railway with a billion dollar deal, which may revive a strategic export route that enhances Beijing’s influence in the region.
Various Chinese approach
According to the writer, interest in the railway is a model for a renewed and more flexible approach within the Chinese development strategy abroad, and coincides with the decision of US President Donald Trump to reduce the budget of the American Agency for International Development, and the similar decision taken by the United Kingdom, raising questions about the extent of the West’s commitment to foreign aid and development projects globally.
The writer explained that China has long followed a different approach from Western countries, as it does not focus on humanitarian aid as much as it is concerned with financing major infrastructure projects, which many African leaders see it necessary to recover their countries of poverty.
She believes that the “Tazara Railway” or “Freedom Rail”, as the Chinese called it when it was built in the 1970s, represents a new attempt to revive the shares of the state -owned Chinese companies, after a number of countries stumbled in the payment of Chinese loans within the Belt and Road Initiative, including Zambia.
A competitor American project
The writer says that the success of the Chinese project may have great repercussions on the struggle of influence between the major powers in a continent rich in copper reserves and other basic minerals necessary for the global transformation in the field of energy.
She explains that the Chinese project is met by a competitive project supported by the United States, as work is currently being updated to update the Lubito corridor, which belongs to the colonial era, with the aim of transferring the resources of Zambia in the west via Angola.
This project was agreed upon during the era of former President Joe Biden through the International Finance Corporation, where Washington pledged to provide a loan of $ 553 million, according to an investment model that attracts private sector investors.
Although Trump’s decision to reduce US foreign aid raises uncertainty about financing the Lucto Corridor, experts believe that this type of commercial and strategic project may constitute the features of American influence on the continent during the coming period.
The author, Peter Doyle, a former International Monetary Fund official and researcher at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, said that Trump’s presidency is a fundamental change in the way Washington realizes its interests in Africa, adding that the United States will not give up its influence in favor of China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlnjxbedcm
Soft influence
Copos Van Staden, Executive Director of China Africa, believes that Beijing may not block the human finance gap left by the United States and other Western countries, but it may expand its soft influence in other ways.
According to his opinion, this influence may be strengthened by working on projects such as “model farms”, where Chinese and African universities cooperate in developing resistance seeds of climate change, adding that these projects are “not fully commercial, but they are also not considered aid in the traditional sense.”
A number of experts believe – according to the writer – that US development aid will turn into a Chinese trend, a strategy according to the International Finance Corporation for Development, which Trump has established during his first term to invest in emerging markets and compete with Chinese infrastructure projects in the global south.
The writer quoted – informed sources – that the International Finance for Development Foundation is still committed to participating in the Labbito project, and it is scheduled to spend part of the loan this month.
But the institution itself is facing a scrutiny from the new administration on its structure and goals, and whether it should focus on major economies and take strict positions towards countries that continue to cooperate with China.
