00:00Thank you, and I want to thank both of you for being here today and certainly I've
00:04Appreciated your participation in these hearings over the years and thank you for your service.
00:10General Cavoli, I want to begin by expressing my deepest respect for the soldiers that were lost in Lithuania last week.
00:18One of those soldiers that was lost was from my state of Michigan
00:22And I just want folks to know that their service and their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
00:30General Langley,
00:32Exercise Northern Strike in Michigan helps train thousands of
00:37Service members from over 20 countries at the National All-Domain Warfighting Center. It's also known as NADWC.
00:43It's composed of Camp Grayling Training Center and over
00:4717,000 square miles of special-use military airspace at the Alpena Training Center.
00:52NADWC provides realistic joint force training with our global allies and our partners.
00:59In fact, Liberia has been a part of this exercise for the past several years.
01:05My question for you is what role do exercises like Northern Strike play in advancing AFRICOM's strategic goals on the continent?
01:15Senator, thanks for that question.
01:18You know our joint exercise program is indicative of
01:23the influence that we have, positive influence, in building institutional capacity with our African partners.
01:29And then the whole portfolio, and then the exercise that you mentioned as well,
01:35adds to their institutional capacity.
01:37That's why we're the preferred partner. As we go forward and they address their challenges in building
01:44security cooperation or the ability to address the multiple layered threats
01:52that these countries face, they choose the United States.
01:56I know that the Chinese Communist Party and even the Russian Federation are
02:02through their throes of efforts of trying to replicate it.
02:05But they always come back to the United States to be the preferred partner for building institutional capacity.
02:13So,
02:14for the exercise there and what Liberia does, they chose right.
02:19Well, that's good. And I want to kind of pick up on that as in terms of the competition we have with both Russia and the CCP
02:26and their influence operations in Africa. As you know,
02:30China employs strategic narratives to justify and enhance their presence in sub-Saharan Africa.
02:37Through partnerships with African journalist training programs, the CCP integrates its perspective into local media.
02:43It directly engages in more than 60 African political parties.
02:49But their most influential impact, I think you would agree, has been the Belt and Road Initiative, which has
02:55significantly impacted Africa's economic landscape through substantial investments, particularly infrastructure investments.
03:02In 2023, African countries experienced a 47 percent increase in Chinese construction contracts and
03:10114 percent surge in investments compared to the previous year, which totals about
03:15$21.7 billion, a substantial amount. So my question for you, sir, is can you expand upon the going
03:23presence that China has in Africa politically,
03:27economically, and militarily, and how that is a threat to our very important strategic interests on the continent?
03:36Yes, Senator. Thanks for that question.
03:40China's trying to set the globe now.
03:42They want to be the global hegemon now.
03:46Chairman Xi has put out a 2049 plan, but they want to get there earlier.
03:50So there lies the importance that we engage and show assurance actions.
03:57But we just can't just harbor the facts. We harbor the facts, but we don't own the narrative.
04:02That's being drowned out by the CCP and their campaign plans
04:07to be able to influence civil society,
04:11influence the militaries. They can't replicate what we do.
04:15Whether it be they're
04:18trying to copy of what we're doing in our IMET or
04:22our international military education training,
04:26it doesn't compare. And we match our efforts, whether it's Title 22 funding or Title 10 funding,
04:34whether it be security,
04:36the State Partnership Program, or the SFABs, Security Force Assistance Brigades.
04:43They build institutional capacity like none other. Our African partners know that. So whatever is in the information space,
04:50we do need to meet it with a comparable narrative. Thanks, sir.
04:54Thank you. And once again, thank you to both of you for your service.
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