US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets with President of Senegal Macky Sall during the US - Africa Leaders Summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, December 15, 2022. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)
Against a background of dynamic geopolitics, with world superpowers clamoring for global influence, United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will soon visit three African countries, including South Africa – a move seen by some political experts as an attempt to counter the Chinese influence.
With Chinese trade with Africa, standing at four times that of the US, President Joe Biden last December announced more than $15 billion (R245 billion) in two-way trade and investment deals with the continent.
Among other engagements in SA, Yellen is expected to highlight work the US Treasury is doing to combat wild life trafficking and visit a Ford assembly plant outside Pretoria – employing over 4000 workers.
With the upcoming trip to Senegal, Zambia and SA, having been seen by most experts as significant, University of Johannesburg sociology professor Patrick Bond, who has described Yellen as “a centre-left technocrat, with a mandate to serve US economic interests”, said the main threat to American interests was “the potential shift away from the dollar”.
Said Bond: “The main threat to US interests is the potential shift away from the dollar, especially after Yellen’s office led the financial sanctions and asset-seizure campaign against Russian banks and oligarchs.
“Obviously this was for good reasons, after the Ukraine invasion, with China and Saudi Arabia having turned away from US financial investments.
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“Chinese may well try to replace the dollar with the renminbi as a world reserve currency.
“In addition to the US geopolitical conflict with China over Taiwan and control of the South China sea – and who votes with whom in the United Nations – Yellen must be worried that South Africa will host a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA bloc) plus, conference in August, that could advance de-dollarisation.
While China remained Africa’s largest trading partner, the US remained “the lead imperialist power”.
Economist Peter Baur, said China followed “a long-term trend of investment into Africa”.
“But with the weakening Chinese markets, especially considering the Covid impact, there may be a strategic opening for the US to benefit from these opportunities.
“While BRICS is extremely important to South Africa. the country’s role of in the G20, has strong significance to our trade relationships with the EU (European Union) and the US,” said Baur.
Dr David Monyae, an expert on international relations, said: “This is not about a Yellen visit and high-level access to the top leaders, what speaks more volume is the trading figures between Africa and China – standing at almost $300 billion at the moment – set to reach $300 billion by next year.
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“That gross is what makes China more shining.
“As an independent power, South Africa should ensure that it enters into a relationship with the United States or China, maintaining its independence.
“SA should have a relationship with Beijing, without Washington or any other power dictating what South Africa should do – visa versa.”
University of SA political science professor Dirk Kotze, said: “SA will this year be more prominent in the context of BRICS, because it is chairing the BRICS group. “
Said Wits University honorary international relations professor John Stremlau: “In domestic US terms, the visit is quite significant, because African-Americans are a vital constituency for Joe Biden – having shown interests in Africans in general and South Africans in particular.
“Yellen is willing to go to African countries – a very valuable signal domestically and also internationally, because we are all related.
“You cannot ignore a continent that is so increasingly important to global economic stability and peace.”
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Yellen is a globally-respected economist, having served as Federal Reserve Bank chair, with her role including sitting on the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, where the US Treasury enjoys veto power.
In the G20 bloc of rich and middle-income countries, she is the most important finance minister, making her wield enormous influence, when it comes to managing global financial crises – of the type which in 2008/9 and 2020, which compelled the Fed and Treasury to bail out their own banks and others in the West.
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