US lawmaker introduces bill to counter China’s ‘negative’ environmental impacts in African countries

US lawmakers Young Kim and Colin Allred introduced the ‘Preventing PRC Environmental Exploitation and Degradation Act’ (SPEED), which aims to combat harmful environmental, ecological, and public health impacts caused by People’s Republic of China (PRC) investments in Africa.

Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has become the largest trading partner, creditor and investor in the African region. According to a media statement released by US lawmakers on Monday, China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’, often carried out through BRI operations, can be destructive and harmful to local communities and key biodiversity areas located in Africa.

“The PRC’s Belt and Road Initiative forces developing countries into Xi Jinping’s debt-trap diplomacy, but it also exposes vulnerable populations to harmful ecological, environmental, and public health risks,” the release said.

Young Kim, who currently chairs the Indo-Pacific Subcommittee, added, “We cannot allow Xi Jinping to expand his/her global power and violate international environmental and labor laws in the process. I am proud to lead the SPEED Act to counter the Belt and Road Initiative and hold the PRC accountable for its exploitative behavior, deliberate environmental damage, and threats to the livelihoods of African communities.”

“We cannot allow the PRC and Chinese-linked companies to continue exploiting African countries while subjecting their people to harmful ecological and public health risks,” Colin Allred said during the introductory session. “The bipartisan SPEED Act would strengthen U.S. policy, authorize sanctions, and hold the Chinese government accountable for adverse environmental, ecological, and public health events occurring in Africa.”

Reportedly, the SPEED Act would counter China’s influence in Africa by establishing a US policy to oppose the actions of PRC-linked entities that do not comply with host country laws, international environmental protection, and labor laws in exploiting natural resources in Africa.

The Act would initiate strategy developments from the US Department of State and USAID detailing how the US will work with sub-Saharan African countries to address environmental disasters caused by PRC companies. The Act would also impose sanctions on PRC-linked entities responsible for adverse environmental and public health events on the African continent.

The act submitted by the US cites a report titled ‘China’s Environmental Abuse’.

The report’s findings state that “China is posing a threat to the global economy and global health through its unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and its deliberate disregard for the environment through its One Belt, One Road initiative.”

The bill also notes that China has significantly increased its economic and business activities in sub-Saharan Africa over the past 20 years. While legal systems vary in different countries, business entities are generally bound by the laws of their home country, host country, and international law.

Chinese business entities are notorious for deliberately violating the laws of their host countries and international law. China and Chinese private sector companies’ destructive, and sometimes illegal, mining, drilling, logging, and fishing practices in sub-Saharan Africa cause high levels of concern and harm in sub-Saharan Africa.

Many China-linked entities and Chinese PSCs in sub-Saharan Africa operate with little regard for the ecology, public health, and the well-being of local residents and wildlife.