Description: Kenyan President William Ruto has started his five – day visit to China as he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Both Presidents discussed expanding key strategic ties amid the global trade war launched by US President Donald Trump. Kenya represents one of the key targeted partners in China’s Belt and Road Initiative which is comprised of Chinese geopolitical and economic expansion throughout Asia, Africa and Europe by way of infrastructure and development projects. President Xi has recently launched a trade and strategic partnership initiative which began with approaching countries from Southeast Asia and continued expanding towards Africa in search of struggling and developing countries. Kenya has long lasting issues with foreign debts and faces insurmountable pressure from the US tariffs which prompts the country’s leniency towards China as a key strategic partner. The Presidents were reported to have signed over 20 agreements which entailed cooperation in security, defense, economic development, healthcare and large infrastructure projects.
Impact: China has abruptly modified its Belt and Road foreign policy framework from seamlessly infiltrating and projecting influence in struggling countries to aggressively pursuing diverse strategic partnerships. President Xi’s strategic and trade campaign has already given concrete results as China has so far managed to resist the pressure imposed by Trump’s tariff policy by securing key strategic alliances in Asia and incentivizing domestic production output. China’s strategic ambitions would continue to grow as the US has globally withdrawn from projecting global influence, which is exemplified by Trump’s tariff policy, the disruption of aid programs such as USAID and the stranding of relations with key strategic partners such as the EU. Presently, China is positioning itself to become the global geopolitical leader in the long – term while the US is suffering the irrefutable consequences of the poorly conceptualized foreign policies.