Angola's President Joao Lourenco with US President Joe Biden in Washington in December 2023. Photo: The White House

US President Joe Biden will visit Angola from December 2 to 4, as announced by the US Department of State. Analysts said the timing of the trip, as Biden will leave White House in January, raises questions about what the visit is intended to achieve. 

According to US media outlets, Biden postponed his planned visits to Africa twice, once in late 2023 and again in October. The first delay was due to the Israel-Palestine conflict, while the second was because of Hurricane Helene.

Biden's visit to Angola, scheduled to take place one month before his departure, aims to highlight his diplomatic legacy before leaving office. The US and Angola are currently cooperating closely on military security, Ma Hanzhi, assistant research fellow at Department for Developing Countries Studies, China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.

Additionally, Biden may also seek to promote the development of the Lobito Corridor and advance the implementation of related funding commitments, said Ma.

Over the last two years, the US has mobilized $60 billion to support projects from South America to Southeast Asia to Africa. "The Lobito Corridor - connecting Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo - is one of our biggest projects," according to VOA in September, citing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The US attempts to present the Lobito Corridor as a key contribution to Africa's infrastructure development. However, its actual implementation remains highly uncertain. Song Wei, a professor from the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times that the Lobito Corridor project is a key US initiative with a focus on securing access to critical minerals in the region to stabilize the US global supply chains.

The timing of the trip raises questions about what the visit is intended to achieve and raises question about how the Trump Administration will approach Africa, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Also, the Lobito Corridor is the first strategic Global Infrastructure and Investment economic corridor that the US launched to improve its profile and influence in Africa to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Song noted.

Song said that in August 2022, the Biden administration put forward the "US Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa" with its central focus highlighting China and Russia as the US' main competitors in Africa. Trump also released a strategy toward Africa in 2018 to counter China and Russia. This suggests that regardless of the political party in power, the US perspective on Africa remains relatively stable.

China doesn't engage in geopolitical games in Africa, but is glad to see concrete contribution from all countries to Africa's development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said in August.