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Kenya’s China orientation provokes Washington’s wrath At a joint press briefing, Ruto praised Chinese-backed infrastructure, declaring, “We have achieved many things together,” and hailed Kenya’s Belt and Road Initiative membership as instrumental in “reshaping” the country and bolstering East African connectivity. A joint communiqué pledged “China-Africa solidarity” as a force for global “stability,” asserting a common front to defend “developing countries” and promote “inclusive globalisation.” In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Ruto defended multilateralism in a clear swipe at Washington: “We believe that multilateralism has greater safeguards and provides an even environment for trade.” Chinese President Xi Jinping underscored the elevation of ties with Kenya as a response to the “turbulent international situation”, a thinly veiled reference to the growing US-led encirclement of China. The US response was swift. Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, denounced Ruto during a hearing titled “East Africa & The Horn: At A Turning Point or Breaking Point?”. “Just last month, President Ruto declared that Kenya, a major non-NATO ally, and China are ‘co-architects of a new world order.’ That’s not just alignment to China; it’s allegiance,” Risch warned. He added, “Relying on leaders who embrace Beijing so openly is an error. It’s time to reassess our relationship with Kenya and others who forge tight bonds with China.” The message is unmistakable: Kenya must comply with US dictates or face consequences. The chosen pretext is the tattered playbook of human rights. Risch declared, “Rising abductions and torture in East Africa signal more than abuse, they expose state decay and impunity,” a barely disguised comment on the Ruto regime whose brutal crackdown on last year’s anti-IMF austerity protests left at least 63 dead, 83 abducted, and 29 still unaccounted for. This is the height of cynicism. The same US political establishment, now posturing as a defender of rights across the Horn of Africa, is backing Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, which has killed over 53,000 and obliterated the territory’s infrastructure. It was Washington that welcomed Ruto with full honours last year, despite his leading role in the 2007–2008 post-election ethnic violence that left over 1,200 dead and half a million displaced. And it was Washington that stood behind Ruto during last year’s mass uprising, which threatened its regional interests, advising him on how to suppress it and supporting his deployment of the army onto the streets of Nairobi. The US tariff war is aimed at tearing Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia from Chinese economic influence, forcing them to abandon efforts at strategic balancing. However, as the WSWS noted, “the US has a major problem in that it has nothing to offer those countries economically,” and a break from China risks “economic devastation, threatening to set off major social upheavals.” US pressure has not repelled states from Beijing’s orbit but is accelerating their drift toward it. Kenya is following this trajectory, despite Ruto having led the most pro-US faction of the Kenyan bourgeoisie in recent times. During his 2022 campaign, Ruto attacked China, vowing to expel Chinese workers, expose opaque loans, and curb debt. He railed against the previous Uhuru Kenyatta administration’s ties to Beijing, claiming that the failure to pay back loans to Beijing threatened Kenya with asset seizures like the Port of Mombasa. Once in office, he quickly reassured Beijing. Meeting China’s special envoy Liu Yuxi shortly after taking power, Ruto promised to “step up and expand” relations with China. At the same time, Ruto deepened military ties with Washington. In 2022, he deployed troops to eastern Congo to support US efforts to stabilise mineral-rich areas for extraction. He also dispatched 800 special forces police to Haiti as part of a US-funded mercenary force aimed at crushing popular unrest and stemming refugee flows. The crowning achievement of Ruto’s presidency in relations with Washington was securing Kenya’s designation as a Major Non-NATO Ally under the Biden Administration—the first in sub-Saharan Africa—cementing its role as a key proxy in US-led security operations on the continent. This designation aligns with Washington’s broader strategic vision, which sees Kenya—host to two permanent US Africa Command (AFRICOM) bases in Mombasa and Manda Bay and co-host of the 2025 African Chiefs of Defense Conference—as a central pillar in projecting American military power across Africa. None of this mattered to Washington once Trump signalled a new stage of economic war. Kenya’s loyalty was discarded, and Ruto was forced to strengthen ties with Beijing. Even the Haiti operation faces a funding crisis as the US distances itself, endangering the Kenyan mercenaries’ salaries and leaving a looming $200 million payment unmet. On trade, Kenya expected the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which grants duty-free access to US markets. Yet no agreement has been reached. The deal, expiring in 2025, underpins Kenya’s $500 million textile industry. Tariffs would wipe out tens of thousands of jobs in export zones, along with support sectors like cotton farming and logistics. Simultaneously, Trump has slashed USAID funding, provoking 30,000 job losses in Kenya and threatening critical health services, including HIV treatment for 1.4 million Kenyans. Supplies may only last another three to six months. In a desperate attempt to reassure US of its allegiance, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said, “What President Ruto was talking about is collective ownership. America is a big power, and so is China. The two nations are important to us, and we will continue to work together.” “This is not a shift in Kenya’s policy to the detriment of anybody,” he explained. “We are not here to play one country against another.” These developments are a warning to the working class across Africa and internationally. Ruto’s zigzagging between Beijing and Washington reflects attempts by the African bourgeois regimes to balance between the two. But claims by bourgeois nationalists, Stalinist parties, and military juntas in West Africa that the continent can navigate a “multipolar” path are a dead end as the world heads into global conflagration. Kenya’s Stalinist Communist Party of Kenya—Marxist (CPM-K) has remained silent on Ruto’s visit to China and on the formal cooperation agreement signed between his United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At CPM-K’s congress last November, the party proudly received greetings from the CCP, underscoring its deep alignment with Beijing. This orientation mirrors the material interests of the affluent middle-class strata the CPM-K represents, layers that have profited handsomely from Chinese investment over the past decades. The lessons of the past must be drawn. The anti-colonial struggles of the 20th century won formal independence, but failed to overthrow capitalism. The result has been decades of neocolonial rule, with African elites acting as intermediaries for foreign powers. Today, amid the fracturing of the global order, a new generation must take up the task of completing the struggle, this time on the basis of international socialism. That is the only way to ensure that the resources and labour of Africa serve its people, not the interests of foreign or domestic capitalists. The path forward lies in building a unified socialist movement that links the struggles of African workers with those of workers in the US, China, Europe, and globally. Only through the overthrow of capitalism on a world scale can the peoples of Africa realise their aspirations for peace, equality, prosperity and democratic rights. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/06/03/keny-j03.html Back |
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