On December 25, 2023, the Spanish newspaper El País published an article entitled "The West is losing its influence in Africa", written by José Naranjo and Andrea Risi. The following is an excerpt from the full text:
Malik Secker, a civil servant in Senegal, travels 35 kilometres a day to reach his office in Jamniaja, a suburb of Dakar. After passing the Museum of Black Civilization and the Chinese-funded Grand Theater, he stepped into the hustle and bustle of a toll road built by a French company. Immersed in his thoughts, he walked through a residential complex built by an Indian company and caught a glimpse of the silhouette of a huge football stadium built by a Turkish construction company in just two years. Also not far away, a new vaccine factory, funded by the European Union, is poking out from its foundations.
In just 35 kilometres, Malik travels through a microcosm of New Africa. Countries such as China, India, Russia and Turkey are building up their presence on the continent, from security to infrastructure, culture or **, while the retreating West clings to its existing power and looks for ways to regain some of the ground it has lost in recent years.
This is a portrayal of the Great Game in Africa in the past decade.
On the one hand, the global powers are fighting each other in order to gain influence in Africa;African countries, on the other hand, seek to make the most of this competition and push the relationship towards pragmatic diversification.
The growing interest of the major powers in the African continent has been evident for some time," said Giovanni Carbone, professor at the University of Milan and head of the Africa Program at the Institute of International Politics. ”
The reasons for the focus on Africa are manifold: these include the prospects for population and economic growth, as well as natural resources. But in recent years, two specific factors have exacerbated this concern. On the one hand, the growing competition between the great powers has prompted them to look for allies in other parts of the world;On the other hand, some strategic raw materials are becoming increasingly important.
Africa has a lot of resources that are critical for the energy future, the mineral resources needed for the energy transition," said Carlos López, an economist from Guinea-Bissau. (Compiled by Su Jiawei).