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Chinese President Xi Jinping • Senegal President Macky Sall
The US needs to get over the geopolitical thinking and stop demonizing China in order to transform the African continent and eliminate poverty and hunger, African affairs analyst and journalist Lawrence Freeman told RT.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is on a trip to Africa in a bid to establish deeper trade ties. On Monday, he arrived in South Africa for a state visit, which will be followed later this week by his participation in the 10th BRICS summit in Johannesburg.
Earlier, the Chinese leader visited Rwanda and Senegal, which is the first West-African country to be involved in China's "Belt and Road" infrastructure project.
Beijing has been expanding its presence in Africa in recent years, investing $39 billion in the continent in 2017. Political analysts told RT that countries in Africa are turning to China because of US government policies. Earlier this year, US ties with several African countries were
placed under strain following some infamous remarks by Donald Trump.
RT: What do you think Xi Jinping will be hoping to get from his tour of Africa?
Lawrence Freeman: I think this is an indication by President Xi of how important they view their collaboration with Africa. He is going to be visiting four countries and they are going to end up at the BRICS Summit in South Africa. This is a continuation for the last several years of the 'Belt and Road' policy in Africa. And it has been a real boost for African development policies, especially in the areas of infrastructure, energy, roads and rail. And this indicates that they are going to continue along that policy for sure.
Comment: ISIS' war on Syria was only possible because of support from the West, Saudi Arabia and Israel, so one wonders what Lieberman really means when he says it is returning back to the way it was before their thwarted attack on the country: