BY KAREN BOSSICK
There was a time when China limited its involvement in African affairs to building an occasional railroad or port and proclaiming solidarity with the continent’s downtrodden.
Now Chinese companies, diplomats and workers have spread throughout the continent in what is one of the most important geopolitical phenomena of our time.
Former U.S. Ambassador David Shinn will give a free presentation on “China in Africa” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, at Ketchum’s Community Library.
Shinn is an expert on the Horn of Africa, having coauthored “China and Africa: A Century of Engagement.” He also wrote the “Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia.”
He has served for 37 years in the U.S. Foreign Service in embassies in Lebanon, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritania, Cameroon and Sudan. And he served as ambassador to Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.
He has been teaching in the Elliott School at George Washington University since 2001.
His research interests include China-Africa relations, East Africa and the Horn, terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, conflict situations, U.S. policy in Africa and the African brain drain.
The program is presented in partnership with the Boise Committee on Foreign Relations.