The Kenyan President’s plane landed in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, on a state visit at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, and this visit is the third for President Roto since his arrival in the authority in September 2022, and the visit lasted for five days during which more than 20 agreements and understanding memorandum signed to enhance relations between the two countries.
Roto’s visit came a few weeks after the US President imposed a customs increase on state exports to the United States, including Kenya, an increase of 10%, and Trump also launched a series of threats to increase customs duties on China, the largest global economy, before returning later and concluding an “commercial calm” agreement for 90 days.
President Roto previously promised that during his election campaign in 2022, he promised to expel the small Chinese merchants from Kenya and directed the compass towards the west, but he soon ran the traffic light to the east; Believing in the saying of the most famous Chinese reform leader “Deng Xiao Ping”, who is credited with transferring China from the policy of the economy directed to the free market economy strategy with Chinese characteristics, which was known as the small title: “Reform and openness”.
It seems that the Kenyan President was inspired by wisdom without feeling, and he also set a road map for the economic philosophy of his first presidential session, so he set his controversial strategy that he called: “The economy from the base to the top”, and drew six main pillars: reducing the costs of living, eliminating hunger, creating job opportunities, expanding the tax base, improving the country’s foreign exchange balance, and enhancing comprehensive growth.
China is a strategic partner
The Chinese News Agency (Xinhua) conducted a dialogue on April 23, 2025 with Kenyan President William Roto, in which he said that his visit to China aims to deepen the continuous partnership for more than six decades with China, and stressed the role of Kenya as a major and important partner in the Belt and Road project, considering that projects such as Nairobi Highway and Mombasa -Nairobi railway are evidence The vitality of Chinese -Kenyan partnership.
He added that he explores cooperation in the fields of transportation, technology and green energy, as he expressed his hope that Kenya will benefit from its strategic location on the eastern coast of Africa to become the most prominent country in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, and expressed his hope that the Chinese cooperation will help his country in combating poverty by updating agriculture and promoting trade with other economies of the southern countries.
While he was in China, Roto tweeted at his account with the “X” platform, saying: “The strategic partnership between Kenya and China is a permanent partnership that focuses on humans and invests in achieving practical, tangible, influential, sustainable and profitable positions for both sides.” He added: “I will continue with my counterpart Shi Ping efforts to enhance and reform United Nations systems, especially the Security Council, in order to become more representative and in response to real challenges.”
What are Kenya’s most prominent gains from visiting China?
Kenya and China signed 20 agreements and understanding memoranda of a total value of 137 billion Kenyan ($ 1.6 billion), which included areas of: infrastructure, trade, education, agriculture, health, information and communication technology and others.
In the field of infrastructure, China has agreed to finance the extension of the railway line from the Kenyan city of Nevasha to the Ugandan city of Malaba.
China will also finance the expansion of the highway linking Nairobi and Nakuru Mao to the Ugandan city of Malaba, and the construction of a road linking the Kimo Highway to Eldoret County, in addition to 15 internal roads.
In the field of trade, the relationship between the two countries was raised to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership, and the Chinese President provided a grant of 100 million Chinese yuan (1.7 billion Kenyle) to support various projects, especially in the health sector.
Diplomatic, Kenya granted a margin of maneuvering with its Western allies, who rushed to go towards Nairobi immediately after the visit ended. The United States of America has submitted an invitation to the Kenyan Prime Minister and the Kenyan Foreign Minister, Moussalia Modafadi, to visit Washington and hold talks with Foreign Minister Marco Rubio. The European Union also launched, from 12 to 14 May last, the Business Forum between Kenya and the Union for the Promotion of Trade and Investment, with the participation of senior European officials and a number of businessmen and companies.
During the two -day forum, the European -Kenyan Chamber of Commerce was inaugurated. In the same context, the Finnish President made a historic visit to Kenya, the first for a Finnish president, during the visit, a number of memoranda of understanding included the areas of political consultations, support for peace and mediation efforts, in addition to cooperation in the areas of health, renewable energy, and information and communication technology.
The obstacle of Chinese debt trap
The World Bank recently ranked Kenya, the fourth country, the most tolerant of debt burdens in the world, and the Chinese debt on Kenya remained an obsession in the path of the development of bilateral relations, as Western countries used it as a kint to threaten its African allies, especially Kenya. Washington and Western capitals have always warned of “Chinese debt trap”.
In May 2019, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, accused China of using the DTP system to influence countries as a tool to undermine the political situation, by creating huge debts and biting them with sovereign assets in the event of an inability to pay.
In this context, Kenya and Djibouti were referred to as one of the most borrowed countries from China. However, however, China has continued to consider its use of debts as a tool for a porch of African countries and their blackmail, but rather worked in many cases to schedule payments and grant the humiliating to countries that are unable to pay the monthly dues, as happened when China granted Kenya in February 2021 to six months to pay the amount of $ 245 million, due to the repercussions of the Kofid-19 pandemic to the Kenyan economy.
The Chinese debt on Kenya reached the equivalent of $ 6.3 billion, according to the Kenyan Treasury, from the total Kenyan public debt, which until January 2025 reached 11.02 trillion shillings, or approximately $ 82 billion. The total public debt represents approximately 67% of the gross domestic product, and the Kenyan government spent 152.6 billion shillings in the fiscal year 2023/2024 to pay the debts due to China.
Economists believe that Kenya pays for every 100 shillings, the amount of 60 shillings to pay the debt service, while the remaining amount, or 40 shillings, is used to pay salaries and spending on development.
Beijing is considered the largest dualism of Kenya, as Nairobi used Chinese loans to finance infrastructure projects, most notably the construction of the highway linking the capital Nairobi and the city of Mombasa on the Coast of the Indian Ocean, which reached a cost of $ 3.6 billion offered by China.
In April 2025, Kenyan Finance Minister John met with his Chinese counterpart because Fwan in the capital, Beijing, to discuss the restructuring of Chinese debt, and to provide easy financing to support economic stability in Kenya. As a result, Nairobi canceled the final review of her program with the International Monetary Fund.
American skepticism in alliance with Kenya
The visit of Kenyan President William Roto to China did not receive a welcome from the American allies, as the Chairman of the Congressing Relations Committee, Jim Rish, expressed his dissatisfaction with it during a council session held on Tuesday, May 13, 2025 under the title: “East Africa and the African Horn: a turning point or a collapse?”.
Rish considered that Roto’s statements in which he described the relationship between Kenya and China as a “shocking” strategic partnership, especially as it came almost a year after Kenya’s classification as an ally of the United States from outside NATO. He said: “This is not just a bias to China, but it is more than that, and it is time to reassess our relations with Nairobi, not only with regard to trade, but with regard to the new global system.”
However, while the Foreign Relations Committee was meeting to discuss this issue, a Chinese investment delegation was visiting Nairobi with President Roto to discuss the issue of expanding Kenyan tea exports to China.
For its part, the US administration, represented by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, was quick to submit an urgent invitation to the Prime Minister and Kenyan Foreign Minister Moussalia Modafadi to visit Washington. Modafadi Probio met on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
According to a statement issued by the US State Department, the meeting discussed ways to enhance the American-Kenyan partnership by supporting common economic interests. Rubio emphasized the firm role of Kenya in promoting peace and stability in Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in addition to its leadership of the multinational security support mission in Haiti, and the strong partnership in the face of Al -Shabab.
On April 5, 2025, he made the chief adviser to the US President, Massad Paul, Nairobi, a station within his African tour, which included a number of countries in the continent, including Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“The United States of America realizes that Kenya is still able to play a major role in peace initiatives,” Paul said during his meetings in Kenya, adding that “President Trump fully supports the peace process in Africa, and that the bottom line is to accomplish matters quickly and in an organized way.”
Moussalia Modafadi condemned, earlier, some Kenyan parliamentarians attempted to make a parallel visit to Taiwan during President Roto’s visit to China, and Modfadi described in press statements this attempt as “malicious and reckless”, and considered it a non -national step and provocative work.
President Roto announced during the visit Kenya’s support for the “one China” policy, the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, and the settlement of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict through dialogue.
Summary
The Kenyan President’s visit to China came in a pivotal moment for the recently formed Roto government, suffering from China’s debts, and urgently needs financial support to achieve economic stability. It also came in light of the escalation of the trade war between Washington and Beijing, which was characterized by increased tariffs.
As the customs tariff for Kenya was raised by 10%, analysts saw that this situation led to a tension in the relationship between Nairobi and Washington, which prompted Kenya to reassess its Western partners, and considered that this constitutes a favorable opportunity to benefit from the repercussions of the American -Chinese conflict. Instead of seeking new loans, Nairobi may seek to enhance cooperation in the field of productive capacity and technology, which is compatible with Beijing’s endeavor to find new allies.
It would be useful for “Beijing” and “Nairobi” to join Kenya to the “Brex” group to be one of the most important countries in the East Africa region, and it is also certain that Kenya’s joining the group will be useful for it, where you can take advantage of the soft loans and aid provided by the group’s countries and the “Brex” Development Bank, and this joining – if it is done – is a setback for “Washington” that is Kenya One of the oldest and most important allies, and an important country in the context of security arrangements in the Horn of Africa, including Kenya’s roles in Somalia, Sudan, and southern Sudan.
President Roto’s visit to China represented a budget action in swinging relations with Western countries, as Roto seeks to obtain decisive economic financing and support from China, while this endeavor integrates with the variables in the wider geopolitical scene. On the other hand, China Kenya is a very important gateway to enhance its economic, diplomatic and security influence in the East Africa, and a strategic contact point in the “Belt and Road” project.
The opinions in the article do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al -Jazeera.