There could be no better time that when US Vice President Kamala Harris courted Zambia to clarify assertions around the copper producer being a geopolitical turf for the top two largest economies globally. Head of State in Africa’s second largest hotspot Zambia Hakainde Hichilema clarified the controversy surrounding China’s influence over Africa when he hosted the US VP at state house.
“We are here to foster US- Zambia relations but there’s a context that the relationship exists in an operating environment where other countries also exist,” Hichilema said. The contextualization that if US-Zambia share strong bilateral relationships, then they are doing something against China is completely wrong. When I’m in Beijing we are not doing anything against the US and similarly when in Washington we are not doing anything against China, we have a globe we share, earth. And for us in Africa, we have a continent we share, he said.
Hakainde said the expectation was that US and China, the two leading global economies keep the world safe for everybody. To keep peace, stability which will allow us to focus on our economic reconstruction agenda. However the Zambian head of state said Zambia is responsible for the downgrade of its own economy evident in the way it transacted and related with other counterparties. It is for this reason that the Southern African nation reset its relationship with the global community, the civil league of nations.
“We are expecting the US as we have done in our conversation to support us in the debt overhung for which as a country we are responsible for as we did not manage our affairs properly. We are equally asking that when we meet China, we are asking them to assist our debt burden and free resources to where they should go,” Zambia’s President echoed. I am saying that the US and us have our relationship, they have their relationship with China, we have our relationship with China but none of these are about working against the other, that is what will keep our world peaceful and secure. But let me be direct, I do believe that the US and China are engaging daily because of who they are and our request to them is to keep our world peaceful and orderly, for us we would like to advance our democratic relationship with the Americans and with others. I must say like I said yesterday, its in public domain that we believe that a democratic framework will advance our agenda economically and socially. We came from a one party state, dictatorship, we did not like it and we want to stay this course. We must not be seen to be plotting against others when we meet with the US Vice President.
Zambia’s debt restructure has lengthened and the uncertainty surround it has continued to have market implications with a recent currency slide and bearish interest outlook erasing August 2021 post-election gains. China has been cited for delaying conclusion of debt reorganization talks with analysts attributing this to a geopolitical skew that Hichilema has sought to clarify. Zambia is due for the second tranche of the International Monetary Fund extended credit facility. An IMF mission team is in the country to conduct its review well ahead of the Spring meetings this April. The copper producer has continued to uphold the highest democracy tenets as it attracts more investment to boost economic activity amidst its fiscal headwinds.
Geopolitics however remains a key risk theme globally stenciled in the current tensions between Russia and Ukraine which both the US and China have taken a view on the underlying jurisdictions at war while historically the trade war and COVID19 pandemic was thematic to global relations between the two countries.
The Kwacha Arbitrageur
