The United States does not feel threatened by the growth of trade and investment in Africa by China and other emerging powers, US President Barack Obama said on Saturday.
Suggestions that he has allowed China to steal a march over the United States in doing business with Africa have dogged Obama’s three-nation swing through the continent, but he said the increased Chinese engagement was beneficial for all.
“I don’t feel threatened by it. I feel it’s a good thing,” Obama told a news conference during a visit to South Africa.
The more countries invest in Africa, the more the world’s least developed continent can be integrated into the global economy, he said.
China has greatly expanded its reach in Africa since the start of the new century. It overtook the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner in 2009, a February report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) showed.
China’s advantage in trade stems mostly from how much it sells to Africa. Chinese exports to the continent in 2011 were almost triple the level of US exports.
When it comes to investment flows, however, the picture is different. Data for 2007-2011 suggest US foreign investment flows to the region were larger than China’s, the GAO said.
China’s influence looms large over the continent, partly because it has been so aggressive in its courtship.
Beijing and Washington should be partners in Africa to foster development and peace, said an official Chinese commentary after Obama made his remarks.
Obama’s stops in South Africa and Tanzania mirror a visit in March by then newly named Chinese President Xi Jinping, which could be seen as rivalry between the two superpowers on the African continent, state-run news agency Xinhua said.
Obama’s visit to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania will bring to four the number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa that the US president has visited in the last four years. He stopped briefly in Ghana in his first term.
In contrast, Chinese presidents and vice presidents have visited 30 African countries over the same period, said Mwangi Kimenyi, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
