“President Barack Obama visited some African countries in June 2013. Later, he announced that there would be an American-African summit in August of 2014 in Washington. For this purpose he has extended invitation letters to African leaders with the exception of leaders “who do not have good relations with the US, or those whose membership had been suspended by the AU [the African Union].” Based on the above criteria, so far 47 Heads of State have been invited to the summit to be held in Washington DC on August 5 and 6, 2014. However, leaders from Egypt, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Madagascar have not been invited. Some of the uninvited countries have also criticized the US for setting such criteria for invitation to the Summit. Basically, the purpose of the US-Africa leaders summit is to “widen trade, development and security ties between America and Africa.” The US and China are the first and the second largest economies in the world respectively. They have great influences in international relations. They are neither intimate friends nor fierce enemies to one another. Both countries have developed their own foreign policies towards Africa. Comparing and contrasting their policies is helpful for envisioning the possible relations of Africa with them. Still both countries should learn one from the other in their policy towards Africa. In the following lines I will show the similarities and differences of the US and China’s foreign policies towards Africa. This article also sheds light on the implementation of their policies in the continent.”
