
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Kenyan President William Ruto at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on October 18, 2023. PHOTO | AFP
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Kenya pawn in China’s supremacy agenda - US
An official report to the US Congress claims China has abused its economic influence over Kenya to drive its expansionist agenda, including pushing for the ultimate annexation of Taiwan as part of its One-China policy.
A 741-page annual report, released by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said Beijing was using its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which includes investments in roads, railways, and airports, to bolster its quest for global supremacy.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission was created in 2000 to submit an annual report to Congress on the national security implications of the economic ties between the US and China and to recommend government action.
The 2023 Report to Congress by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission notes that many of the countries that have sent Taiwan nationals to China such as Kenya have close economic relations with the latter and are signatories to BRI.
Kenya became a BRI signatory in 2017, the year it launched the standard gauge railway (SGR), one of China’s largest investments in Africa.
“In one high-profile case, Kenya, one of the highest recipients of BRI investment in Africa, agreed to extradite to mainland China 45 Taiwan citizens implicated in a telecom equipment scam that targeted Chinese nationals, despite protests from Taiwan,” reads part of the report.
“Kenya continues to deepen its economic relations with China. The year following the deportations, Kenya opened a major railway from the port of Mombasa to the city of Naivasha, financed by a $5 billion (Sh766.79 billion) loan from a Chinese bank, and as of 2022, China serves as Kenya’s largest external creditor, at 22 percent of its external debt,” reads the report.
In December 2017, a Beijing court handed down jail sentences of up to 15 years to 85 people deported from Kenya for telecom fraud, including 44 from Taiwan.
Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei, however, dismissed the claims on Nairobi-Beijing ties, saying Nairobi respects the One China Policy.
“For all intents and purposes, these are Chinese nationals…I would not be apologetic about our relationship with China, just like I would be unapologetic about our relationship with the US,” he said. He also defended Nairobi’s involvement in China’s BRI initiative, terming it beneficial to infrastructure development.
“Yes, Kenya is a partner in the Belt and Road Initiative and has benefited a great deal from infrastructural developments like the SGR. We have been in negotiation with neighbouring countries with a view to having that line (SGR) extended to our border with Uganda to DRC. So, that would be fair, but it is not in any way antagonistic…it is a mutually beneficial relationship that we are looking at,” said Dr Sing’oei.
“We owe China tonnes of money and in repaying what we owe them, we work with everybody including some of the Western bilateral partners and multilateral organisations amongst others to address our debt situation.”
Chinese loans as a share of Kenya’s total external loans have since risen to $9.06 billion (Sh1.38 trillion) or 23 percent of the total, by the end of September. However, the Chinese stock of loans is lower than the World Bank’s at $12.37 billion (Sh1.83 trillion) or 32.3 percent of Kenya’s total loans.
But China is also Kenya’s largest bilateral partner, with imports from the Asian country, described as the factory of the world, increasing by 41 percent from Sh320.8 billion in 2013 to Sh452.6 billion, according to official data.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an independent agency of the United States government, was established in October 2000 to monitor, investigate, and report to Congress on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and China.
According to the report, China is also keen to ensure that the conflict in neighbouring countries does not spill over to Kenya where it has vast investments.
“In South Sudan, China has a vested interest in using its UN peacekeeping presence to prevent the conflict from spilling over into neighbouring countries that host signature BRI investments, such as Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia,” added the report.
Indeed, Kenya, the report noted, is one of the participants in the International Military Flight Training Conference which is held biennially having been initiated by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLA Air Force) in 2010.