Go easy on Biden’s victory

No sooner had the United States Democratic Party candidate for the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden, notched the 270 electoral college votes required to secure the country’s presidency, did volleys of commentary about his victory begin to reverberate around the world.

One consistent theme is that unlike President Donald Trump, the Biden presidency heralds a new and positive era in US-Africa relations, especially with respect to predictability, camaraderie and larger volumes of trade and investment in favour of the continent.

Approximate guesstimates of Biden’s likely posture to Africa should examine what he and vice-president designate Kamala Harris say on the matter and related subjects, the track record of previous Democratic Party presidencies and what the new administration does about the United States’ frigid relations with China.

Apart from broad strokes, the Biden-Harris campaign website contains little on US-Africa policy. Biden, it says, “will renew the United States’ mutually respectful engagement toward Africa with a bold strategy that reaffirms our commitment to supporting democratic institutions on the continent; advancing lasting peace and security; promoting economic growth, trade, and investment; and supporting sustainable development.”

It is similarly more general than it is specific on the position of African-Americans in the US. “As president and vice-president, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will rebuild our country in a way that brings everyone along,” the website reads. So, the angel is in the principle; the devil in the detail.

These broad positions will hopefully be followed by detailed policies, preferably in consultation with the continent. Such detail would be a far cry from the Barack Obama-Biden presidency which, according to Senegalese international relations Professor Amy Niang, “held out the most tantalising prospects yet only delivered symbolic politics” and “continued a trend, inherited from the Bush government, of normalisation of counterterrorism, the instrumentalisation of foreign aid for securitisation purposes and the militarisation of its foreign policy in Africa”.

Needless to say, US-Africa relations, as other aspects of political policy, are a function of the overall ideological and political posture of the ruling party. In September, 400 centre-left members of the Democratic Party – dubbed “progressives” – wrote an open letter expressing discontent about the influence of foreign policy advisors who, in their view, are incompatible with meaningful change.

“It is time to reject a foreign policy based on patronage of authoritarians, regime change, failed military interventions and world policing,” they wrote.

“The people of the United States are tired of squandering our resources on perpetual war and occupation that result in carnage, breed global resentment and drain our treasury of funds needed to address environmental sustainability, health care, housing and education at home.”

This week, centre-left Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , further provided a hint of the internal political struggles within the Democratic Party that will surely impact on the political character of the Biden administration.

She was constrained to point out: “I need my colleagues to understand that [progressives are] not the enemy…. That the movement for black lives is not the enemy, that Medicare for all is not the enemy.”

As for Africa, we dare not forget that as President of the US, Biden is the chief custodian and representative of US interests. He is not about to mutate into a messiah for Africa and the Africans. Excitable readings of Biden’s victory had better be alive to this; which is not to imply the futility or impossibility of engagement.

Who knows the nature of the beast engages meaningfully and better. The point was most incisively made by Zimbabwean lawyer, Brian Kagoro, who wrote on the Al Jazeera online platform: “African leaders owe their citizens a much higher level of seriousness and unity.”

Adds Kagoro: “Without a structured engagement by the collective African leadership, it is safe to say hope lies in three things: who Biden appoints as secretary of state and secretary for Africa, respectively; how the Harris effect plays out in handling global affairs, as well as issues pertaining to people of colour, human rights and migration; [and] where and how Biden and Harris choose their priorities and investments.”

An experienced man of affairs, Biden will bring tact and finesse to the White House. Trump’s penchant for vulgarity, creating policy as he tweets and his seeming limited capacity for multitasking will likely be phenomena of the past. But the strategic perspective of a US-dominated world will not change. Biden said as much in an article in the March/April edition of Foreign Affairs Magazine.

“The question,” he wrote, “is, who writes the rules that govern trade?” The answer? “The United States, not China, should be leading that effort.”

The Chinese appreciate the posture. Writing in the Communist Party of China’s official international newspaper, Global Times, this week, Sun Chenghao, a research fellow at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, wrote: “The goal of [the] Biden administration’s China policy is almost identical to that of the Trump administration, albeit more tactfully stated.”

Biden will “continue to regard China as its main rival, seeing China as the biggest threat to maintain[ing] its position as a global hegemony. “However, Biden will differ from Trump on dealing with this challenge.”

The Foreign Affairs article provided useful clues to Biden’s tactful approach to – encircling – China: “The most effective way to meet [the Chinese] challenge is to build a united front of US allies and partners to confront China … even as we seek to cooperate with Beijing on issues where our interests converge…. On its own, the United States represents about a quarter of global GDP. When we join together with fellow democracies, our strength more than doubles. China can’t afford to ignore more than half the global economy. That gives us substantial leverage to shape the rules of the road on everything …”

As the world’s two biggest economies, the nature of US-China relations impacts on the global economy – including the global south – as well as international peace and security.

Africa must understand how the United States’ tactical machinations towards China – and vice versa – will impact on its objectives for development and position itself accordingly, relative to external manoeuvres.

Mukoni Ratshitanga. Picture: Neil McCartney

Ratshitanga is a consultant, social and political commentator

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