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JOHANNESBURG. – With the US-led Democracy Summit under way, China did not miss an opportunity to trash talk its rival in Africa a little over a week after holding its own version of the summit.

Russia, too, had something to say about the US summit in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to speak.

The Democracy Summit is simultaneously hosted by Zambia, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, and the Republic of Korea in a largely virtual arrangement.

The choice of Zambia, a country that has had six presidents following the fall of founding president Kenneth Kaunda in 1991, could be a diplomatic statement from the US to China.

Zambia is at the centre of trade-in barbs between the US and China, particularly regarding the country’s debt crisis.

In January, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, on her African tour, reaffirmed America’s push for debt restructuring for Zambia but said the money owed to China was a barrier to development for all of Africa.

“US estimates of Chinese lending range from $350 billion to a trillion dollars. This type of opaque lending can leave countries with a legacy of debt, diverted resources, and environmental destruction,” Yellen said.

In a cheeky response to Yellen over Zambia’s debt restructuring, the Chinese Embassy in Zambia said the US should “cope with your own debt” and “stop sabotaging other sovereign countries’ active efforts to solve their debt issues”.

China on its part knows going against its ties with African countries, of which most have tangible trade and infrastructure benefits, is a big headache for the US.

China and Russia view the US-led summit as a form of colonisation. This kind of approach is because the two countries played a big part in the de-colonisation of Africa.

Russia said the summit was the US’ attempt to divide the world into two camps.

Russia Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: “The term ‘democracy’ is used within the context of the ‘summit’ as a codeword, a password ‘us versus them’, as part of the complex confrontation against Russia and China.” – News24.com