China’s Belt and Road Initiative and infrastructure development in Africa — Gyude Moore

A couple of months ago, Liberia’s former minister of public works, Gyude Moore argued in a popular Tweet that Western critiques of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will ring hollow in the absence of viable and state-led alternatives from the West. He claimed that the West can easily match, if not exceed China's BRI if it wanted to. But he also wondered whether the West wants to do this. He remains unconvinced because he thinks the West is satisfied with "virtue signalling when it comes to Africa’s prosperity". And so he went on to argue that it should not come as a surprise when African governments do their best to avoid being drawn into any rivalry between the United States and China and prefer to rather maintain a broad coalition of partners. But most importantly, he pointed out, “If China has built more infrastructure in Africa in two decades than the West has in centuries, China is also our friend".

In addition to previously serving as Liberia’s minister of public works (2014-2018) with oversight over the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure, Gyude Moore has also been the deputy chief of staff to former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He is currently a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC.

Resources:

• "Africa Needs a Stronger Europe, Europe Needs a Stronger Africa"  (Sept. 2020)
• "How Can We Prepare for Coronavirus? Learn from Liberia’s Experience with Ebola" (March 2020)
• Follow Gyude Moore on Twitter
• Follow Dan Banik and In Pursuit of Development on Twitter

Host:

Professor Dan Banik, 

Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo

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