Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

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Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Watchdog Warns: U.S. May Have to Pay African Debts to China in Coronavirus Collapse

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats Economic Security

Comments: 0

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in the wake of the economic collapse triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, is ignoring debt relief calls by African countries targeted by Beijing’s predatory lending practices, a leader of a bipartisan American congressional commission suggested on Friday.

U.S. taxpayers may have to bail out the African countries unable to meet their financial obligations from Chinese “debt traps,” Carolyn Bartholomew, the chairwoman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission established by Congress, declared in opening remarks prepared for a hearing Friday.

The coronavirus illness (COVID-19) originated in China where the CCP mismanaged its response and hid the severity of the lethal and highly contagious disease during its early stages, a move that slowed the globe’s response, U.S. officials believe.

American officials have also accused China of spreading disinformation that has contributed to the spread of the viral pandemic.

The United States has long accused China of using its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a vehicle for predatory economic diplomacy to undermine the sovereignty of financially vulnerable African countries by burying them in unsustainable debts often collateralized with strategic assets and natural resources.

On Friday, the U.S.-China commission held a hearing on Beijing’s strategic aims in Africa, particularly the communist country’s growing influence on the continent and its implication for the United States.

In her written testimony, Bartholomew declared:

China’s funding [for Africa] comes at a price, contributing to an unsustainable buildup of debt in many African countries. These lending practices have led to accusations of a “new colonialism,” and in the wake of the economic slowdowns caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, African countries have increasingly called for debt relief. China has so far been silent to these requests, raising the question of whether the United States and other responsible donors will be left footing the bill. While China has publicized its humanitarian public health efforts in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Africans are skeptical, and have expressed concern that the equipment donated by China may be of poor quality.

American taxpayers are the dominant stakeholders of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the top contributors to the World Bank. Both organizations offer loans to developing countries. The United States is also the top source of funding for the United Nations. It also provides other forms of assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State, among other federal entities.

Nevertheless, China’s diplomatic attention and resources devoted to Africa exceed that of the United States, some witnesses noted during the hearing.

China is Africa’s largest trading partner, with the trade mainly concentrated on the continent’s oil- and mineral-rich countries.

In Africa, China is robbing “an emerging generation of young people of the birthright of their natural resources,” Christopher Maloney, the acting administrator for Africa at USAID, wrote in his testimony.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese communist party has also reportedly engaged in racist practices against foreigners of African descent accused of spreading the virus, allegedly including Americans.

U.S.-China commission chief Andreas Borgeas declared in his opening remarks:

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presents new challenges for China-Africa relations and may alter China’s relationships and image on the continent. In recent weeks, African leaders have spoken out against China in unusually frank terms for its reported mistreatment of Africans living in China, including actions forcing evictions of some Africans living in Chinese hotels and preventing Africans from entering restaurants and shops—actions ostensibly taken to stop the spread of the virus.African leaders have also called for Chinese debt relief in light of the global economic slowdown caused by COVID-19. China has reacted by stressing themes of Sino-African solidarity, and has used the pandemic as an opportunity to enhance its image through relief efforts and public diplomacy. The ultimate success of this campaign remains to be seen, but it is clear that China cannot afford to allow COVID-19 to damage the reputation it has spent so long building in Africa and risk jeopardizing its economic investments on the continent as a result.

“Coronavirus may slow down or even disrupt” China’s efforts to become a global power through growing military engagements in Africa and the BRI, former Amb. David Shinn, who is now an adjunct professor at George Washington University, noted in his written testimony.

In 2000, Congress reportedly established the U.S.-China body “to monitor, investigate, and submit to Congress an annual report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China” and provide recommendations for legislative action where appropriate.

Communist China is using its financial clout in Africa to promote its model of governance that promotes corruption, a lack of human rights, increased authoritarianism, and undercuts America’s pro-democracy efforts, some of the witnesses said, echoing other assessments.

Photo: SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images

Link: https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/05/09/watchdog-warns-u-s-may-have-to-pay-african-debts-to-china-in-coronavirus-collapse/

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