China’s global strategy in Africa is working

The United States and the Western Europe stayed away from the African continent since 1990s even though the continent was colonized by the West some centuries ago. Instead, the US set its sight on more strategic Middle East only to get involved in a costly war and get out of it without achieving its goals.

However, since 1990s, China focused its attention to nations in Africa and used the isolation to its advantage. The US and the other Western countries considered China’s involvement in Africa as a resource play. But China saw Africa as a priority zone for raw material resources as well as creation of wealth and a market for its products. Africa provides an abundant opportunity for Chinese telecommunication and other cheaper consumer products and services and African population growth provide many more opportunities for China for years to come. Africa has a growing middle class that is larger than India. China is in a campaign to popularize Chinese products from mattresses to mobile phones in Africa. Africa provides China an opportunity to invest heavily, away from aging population in the West. Recognizing advances China is making in the African continent, the US is also silently waging war with China in Africa for power generation.