Blinken touts US investments in Angola
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken concluded his four-nation African tour with a visit to Angola, site of major new U.S. investments, that could help counter China's influence.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken concluded a four-country tour of Africa on Thursday with a visit in Angola, a former oil-rich Cold War battlefield. which has become the scene of a struggle for economic influence in the 21st century.
During his visit to the coastal capital, Luanda, Mr. Blinken highlighted highlights major U.S. investments in Angola, including more than $900 million for solar energy projects and $250 million to upgrade a rail corridor that transports critical minerals, including cobalt and copper, from central Africa at the Atlantic port of Lobito in Angola.
These solar investments help advance President Biden's climate agenda while transportation improvements further his goal of diversifying energy chains American supplies – in part to reduce US dependence on Chinese control over vital ingredients of a modern economy.
A little more 20 years after the end of Angola's civil war, which left perhaps as many as a million dead, the country has rebuilt, modernized and developed friendly relations with Washington, which once financed rebels against a US-backed government. the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Téte António, Angolan Foreign Minister Blinken proclaimed that relations between the United States and Angola were at their "the strongest point in their history.
Angola's economic ties with China , which lent Angola nearly $43 billion, were tacit.
These financial ties between Beijing and Luanda are one of many relationships that have caused alarm US military officials, who warn that China is seeking to establish a naval base with access to the Atlantic Ocean.
In March 2022, the top US commander for Africa's Stephen J. Townsend said he was most concerned that Equatorial Guinea was granting China such a base, but that Beijing had made progress toward that goal in other African countries. Some analysts place Angola on that list.
U.S. officials have quietly pressured West African countries to refuse China a military presence facing the Atlantic, said Cameron Hudson, who served as director of African affairs at the National Security Council in the Bush administration. He noted that Mr. Blinken's four stops this week – which also included Cape Verde, Ivory Coast and Nigeria – have Atlantic coasts.
The Chinese bases were not This is a specific topic of Mr. Blinken's discussions this week, but the generally closer ties with Africa that the Biden administration has developed, notably through new investments in Angola, make it easier for other officials to argue against worrying Chinese military influence. /p>
Rather than talking openly about China, the emphasis during Mr. Blinken's trip was on what officials called an effort to treat nations African countries as partners and not as pieces on a global chessboard. , reflecting the view of Biden officials that Africans do not like being treated as pawns in a new kind of cold war with Beijing, or
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken concluded his four-nation African tour with a visit to Angola, site of major new U.S. investments, that could help counter China's influence.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken concluded a four-country tour of Africa on Thursday with a visit in Angola, a former oil-rich Cold War battlefield. which has become the scene of a struggle for economic influence in the 21st century.
During his visit to the coastal capital, Luanda, Mr. Blinken highlighted highlights major U.S. investments in Angola, including more than $900 million for solar energy projects and $250 million to upgrade a rail corridor that transports critical minerals, including cobalt and copper, from central Africa at the Atlantic port of Lobito in Angola.
These solar investments help advance President Biden's climate agenda while transportation improvements further his goal of diversifying energy chains American supplies – in part to reduce US dependence on Chinese control over vital ingredients of a modern economy.
A little more 20 years after the end of Angola's civil war, which left perhaps as many as a million dead, the country has rebuilt, modernized and developed friendly relations with Washington, which once financed rebels against a US-backed government. the Soviet Union and Cuba.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Téte António, Angolan Foreign Minister Blinken proclaimed that relations between the United States and Angola were at their "the strongest point in their history.
Angola's economic ties with China , which lent Angola nearly $43 billion, were tacit.
These financial ties between Beijing and Luanda are one of many relationships that have caused alarm US military officials, who warn that China is seeking to establish a naval base with access to the Atlantic Ocean.
In March 2022, the top US commander for Africa's Stephen J. Townsend said he was most concerned that Equatorial Guinea was granting China such a base, but that Beijing had made progress toward that goal in other African countries. Some analysts place Angola on that list.
U.S. officials have quietly pressured West African countries to refuse China a military presence facing the Atlantic, said Cameron Hudson, who served as director of African affairs at the National Security Council in the Bush administration. He noted that Mr. Blinken's four stops this week – which also included Cape Verde, Ivory Coast and Nigeria – have Atlantic coasts.
The Chinese bases were not This is a specific topic of Mr. Blinken's discussions this week, but the generally closer ties with Africa that the Biden administration has developed, notably through new investments in Angola, make it easier for other officials to argue against worrying Chinese military influence. /p>
Rather than talking openly about China, the emphasis during Mr. Blinken's trip was on what officials called an effort to treat nations African countries as partners and not as pieces on a global chessboard. , reflecting the view of Biden officials that Africans do not like being treated as pawns in a new kind of cold war with Beijing, or
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