President Ruto’s recent historic state visit to the US was a testament to this approach. Ruto has echoed the sentiments recently expressed by a senior Rwandan diplomat saying that his country will not be “bullied” into taking sides in the superpower rivalry between the US and China. James Kimonyo, Rwanda’s ambassador to China, said in an interview with South China Morning Post that both Washington and Beijing were important partners for the East African country. We think China is a very good friend of ours and nobody can tell us otherwise,” the diplomat said. In his recent analysis at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), he argues that “China’s domestic economic problems have opened the door for the United States to change the influence dynamics in Africa if the government is willing to step up to the plate.”
