African Currents

China & Russia Lead Charge in Global Power Shift

As global power dynamics evolve, recent events this month signal the growing call for multipolarity. While the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing advanced mutual dialogue and collaboration between the parties, the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok showed Russia's deep ties with Asia-Pacific nations and global investors.
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Africa should engage with China as a single bloc rather than individual countries to optimize its collective influence, says Dr. Emmanuel Matambo, Research Director at the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Africa-China Studies (CACS), South Africa, in an interview with Sputnik Africa. While bilateral deals may present short-term benefits, they hamper the continent's long-term strategic goals, especially implementing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, he notes following the recent Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit.

"The first thing that Africa should do is to negotiate as Africa. We have to be thinking in continental terms as Africa. The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement is going towards that Confederation of African States. That is what we should be aspiring to. Negotiating in silos has been very bad for the African continent. When we talk about connectivity on the African continent, these are things that are actually enshrined in Agenda 2063. The African one was the African Union document. It is about continental integration. How do you integrate the continent? You integrate the continent by integrating infrastructure, first of all, at a very practical level," Matambo stresses.

Moving to a more balanced global order

Another recent high-profile event was the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar bin Ibrahim highlighted the importance of the Forum during its plenary session. He recognized the economic power of Northeast Asia, particularly Russia's Far East, and its cultural and intellectual contributions to the global stage.

"Since its inception in 2015, the Eastern Economic Forum has consistently drawn visionary leaders from around the world. This is fitting as Northeast Asia, which includes the Russian Far East, is a region of vibrant economic dynamism and immense potential. Indeed, it contributes about a fifth of the world's GDP. Russia is not just a strategic and economic reality that commands attention. Indeed, it's a cultural, intellectual, and scientific force. Russia's prominence on the global stage transcends the confines of commerce and geopolitics, reaching deep into the very fabric of human history and thought," Ibrahim says.

While responding to questions at the plenary session, Russian President Vladimir Putin explained that the US has employed ineffective strategies that elicited de-dollarization. Despite realizing their errors, they cannot reverse course without acknowledging their fault. Consequently, international settlements are increasingly shifting towards the use of national currencies.

"Well, the financial and political authorities of the United States have been deploying nonprofessional methods and, in a way, moving us toward that decision. I think that they have already understood their mistake but feel that it would be too late for them to change course. It seems that they believe that recognizing their mistake would be somehow inappropriate for them, let alone changing the way they act. After all, they can see that the tools they use are ineffective. We simply switch to our national currencies. But it is too late for them to back out," Putin notes.

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