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The lunch discussion was led by three distinguished speakers with backgrounds in democracy and development in Africa, U.S. Africa policy, and Chinese politics and foreign policy:

Dr. Christopher Fomunyoh, Senior Associate for Africa and regional director for Central and West Africa at the National Democratic Institute

Professor Andrew Nathan, Columbia University, author of The Great Wall and the Empty Fortress: China's Search for Security and editor of The Tiananmen Papers

Ambassador David Shinn, Professor of International Affairs at GWU, former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia and Director of the Office of East African Affairs

This lunch provided an opportunity to discuss a number of questions about what a transatlantic response to this challenge should look like: Are the existing efforts by Europe and the United States to engage China on its Africa policy working successfully? What sort of pressure and persuasion is effective towards China in its relationships with problematic regimes on the continent? How does Western aid and trade policy have to shift to take China's role properly into account? Can Europe and the United States effectively coordinate their policies on these issues? What is the right mix of cooperation and competition with China in Africa?