The Chinese “are kicking our tails everywhere,” warned Tibor Nagy in a recent column published in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper in Texas. The former top U.S. diplomat for Africa called on the new Biden administration to do more to confront Beijing’s “unrestrained and aggressive tactics” on the continent.
Nagy’s comments come as both Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held press conferences last week where they each castigated the other’s country in yet another indication of rapidly deteriorating relations between the two powers.
After more than 30 years in the State Department, including ambassadorial appointments in both Guinea and Ethiopia, and then named in 2018 to be Assistant Secretary of State, Nagy is among America’s most experienced Africa-focused diplomats. He joins Eric and Cobus from Washington, D.C., to discuss what he thinks the U.S. needs to do to respond to China’s surging influence in Africa and why it’s so important that Washington take immediate action.
