The United States is trying to push back on China's influence in Africa - and betting on Angola as a test case.

For decades, China has bankrolled megaprojects in Africa - including ports, railways and power dams - under its multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, while the US largely overlooked the continent. But Washington is no longer staying on the sidelines.

The US has pledged a billion dollars to refurbish the Lobito Atlantic Railway, its first major project in Africa in decades, which will stretch 1,300km (808 miles) through mineral-rich Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to create a logistics corridor to the Atlantic port of Lobito in neighbouring Angola.

Washington is also working with the European Union to build a new 800km rail line between Angola and Zambia.

During his trip to Angola last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the railway investment was "the biggest investment the United States has made in railways on the African continent in well over a generation".

"It is at the heart of our Partnership for Global Investment and Infrastructure work in Angola," Blinken said, referring to the Group of 7 initiative led by US President Joe Biden to mobilise US$600 billion globally for projects.

He said the investment in Angola "will secure critical mineral supply chains that are essential to the economic futures of all of our countries, our industries".

The US and its European allies want a share of battery metals from the DRC, which is the world's largest producer of cobalt. Zambia is also rich in copper and cobalt. Most of those minerals are exported to China.

But China's economic influence in Angola runs deep. Beijing funded the oil-rich country's reconstruction following a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.

Angola has since received US$45 billion from Chinese lenders - more than a quarter of China's total lending to African countries from 2000 to 2022.

It was there that China pioneered oil-backed loans as a way to access Chinese funding for infrastructure in what came to be known as the "Angola model". It was successful until oil prices fell, making loan repayment expensive.

Angolan President Joao Lourenco has promised to diversify the country's oil-dependent economy and reduce its reliance on China.

Tang Xiaoyang, a professor and chair of the international relations department at Tsinghua University, said the Lobito Corridor project was "remarkable" as the US had not invested in such traditional infrastructure in Africa for many decades.

"It will be interesting to see how this infrastructure is implemented under the context of securing critical mineral supplies for the US."

However, he said that two years after the announcement of the plan to build the Lobito Corridor, "we have not yet seen much concrete progress on the ground, but mainly repeated political rhetoric".

Cameron Hudson, a former US official who is now a senior associate at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies' Africa programme, said the US appeared to be copying China's belt and road strategy.

"Beijing should be flattered. As we say, imitation is the highest form of flattery and the Lobito Corridor takes a page straight out of China's [belt and road] playbook," Hudson said.

"Maybe what US officials will finally realise is that no one in Africa cares how the sausage gets made in Washington, only that it gets made.

"But we should be careful, this project has been announced and celebrated a dozen different ways by US officials, but not one kilometre of railway has yet been laid."

Africa matters to both Beijing and Washington, Hudson noted. "It matters for reasons of UN votes, for critical minerals, for investment potential and for winning the good will of what will soon be the most populous region in the world."

Blinken's visit to Angola was part of a four-nation tour of Africa that also took him to Cabo Verde, formerly Cape Verde - where Washington has promised to help in the nation's fight against the trafficking of drugs, weapons and people.

He also visited Ivory Coast and Nigeria, key allies in West Africa where the US is providing both financial and military aid to confront extremists.

Blinken's tour came shortly after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded his annual New Year visit to Africa.

Although the top US diplomat downplayed China's influence in Africa, it was hard to miss the undercurrent of competition during his trip.

On January 22, while responding to a question in the Ivory Coast on how Washington's proposition to African countries differed from Beijing's, Blinken said that for the US, "the challenge is to show that we offer a good choice".

In a thinly veiled attack on China, Blinken said: "When some countries lend a lot of money, for example, but in doing so create unsustainable debts, that's a problem. We don't want to do that."

China has denied claims that it is burdening or trapping countries with loans they cannot repay. It has also pointed the finger at US-dominated multilateral financial institutions and commercial creditors, which together account for more than 80 per cent of sovereign debt for developing countries.

Ken Opalo, an associate professor at the school of foreign service at Georgetown University, said China had long ago discovered the importance of paying attention to the African region.

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi walk into the presidential residence in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on January 17. Photo: Reuters alt=Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi walk into the presidential residence in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on January 17. Photo: Reuters>

For 34 years, the Chinese foreign minister's first trip of the year had always taken him to Africa, and these visits were a way of strengthening commercial and diplomatic ties, he said.

However, "the US is catching up", Opalo added.

"Over the last year, the US, too, has started sending high-level officials to African countries. This is in reaction to both competition from China and admonition from Africans that Washington does not treat its African counterparts with respect."

Biden has tried to reverse course and mend ties in his approach to Africa after predecessor Donald Trump made headlines for his disparaging remarks about the continent.

"The Lobito Corridor project is certainly Washington's reaction to China's [belt and road]," Opalo said.

He said for a long time the US and EU had sought to counter China's infrastructure loans to African countries.

"This [Lobito] project, if implemented, will demonstrate whether America and its allies can compete with China on this dimension."