China’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, made the offer last week at a peace conference organized by Chinese officials in Addis Ababa. The Chinese government has historically avoided getting involved in foreign disputes, but some observers see the event as evidence that Beijing seeks to rival the U.S. as an international conflict mediator. The conference itself did not get into specific proposals for resolving several ongoing security crises, but the Chinese envoy said Beijing wants to become more involved. Washington’s own Horn of Africa envoy, David Satterfield, stayed only three months in the job before quitting earlier this year. A recent column on Africa in China’s state-affiliated Global Times newspaper suggests as much, positing that as a good thing.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 01, 2022 17:41 UTC