Kenya committed to balanced foreign policy amid US-China rivalry — president Ruto

Kenya’s president has reaffirmed his country’s commitment to a balanced foreign policy as the global power rivalry between the United States and China heats up and African nations are “bullied into taking sides.”

“We’re neither facing East nor facing West; we’re facing forward,” Kenya’s President William Ruto said during an interview with Al Jazeera, to emphasize Kenya’s strategic approach of maintaining a balanced foreign policy amid escalating geopolitical tensions between Washington and Beijing.

With China trying to gain a foothold in Africa, and with the US looking to reassert itself as a partner of choice, observers say that African countries will have to pick the right partners that will benefit them not only in the short term, but also in the long run.

President Ruto’s recent historic state visit to the US was a testament to this approach. While Kenya’s relationship with the US is crucial to its national interests, particularly in trade and investment, it also continues to engage actively with China, recognizing its role as a critical economic partner.

Ruto has echoed the sentiments recently expressed by a senior Rwandan diplomat saying that his country will not be “bullied” into taking sides in the superpower rivalry between the US and China. James Kimonyo, Rwanda’s ambassador to China, said in an interview with South China Morning Post that both Washington and Beijing were important partners for the East African country. “We can’t be bullied, we can’t be forced. We think China is a very good friend of ours and nobody can tell us otherwise,” the diplomat said.

According to Charles A. Ray, a former US ambassador to Zimbabwe, the US has not offered a sufficiently concrete alternative to Chinese investment in African infrastructure development. In his recent analysis at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), he argues that “China’s domestic economic problems have opened the door for the United States to change the influence dynamics in Africa if the government is willing to step up to the plate.”