Rex Tillerson, US secretary of state, warned African governments they risked forfeiting their sovereignty when accepting money from China as he began the first visit to the continent by a top Trump administration official.
Mr Tillerson’s implied criticism comes as the US plays policy catch-up on a continent that hosts five of the world’s top 10 growing economies but where many struggle to secure financing. Some African governments have tended to bristle at Washington’s approach.
Speaking at the African Union headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, at the start of a week’s visit, Mr Tillerson said that while the US was “not attempting to keep Chinese investment dollars out of Africa”, governments could lose control of infrastructure and resources if projects went wrong. China is ploughing billions of dollars annually into African infrastructure initiatives.