The Dual Policy That Wasn’t: How Lusaka Drifted from Washington

Geopolitically, two cities hold a strong grip on Zambia's State House in Lusaka like no other. Beijing, China, and Washington, D.C., in the United States — these two cities and powers can be said to hold substantial sway over all countries in the world. Perhaps in no other country do these two competing powers, overtly and covertly, vie so intensely for leverage and benefit, so much so that the country's foreign policy is predicated on the balance between these two polar superpowers. These two competing powers and interests have been present and prevalent in the nation's foreign policy since as early as independence and the inception of democratic, independent rule in the country. Despite Beijing seemingly having Lusaka much closer to its ear today, the USA established diplomatic relations with Zambia earlier as early as Independence Day, formally recognizing Zambia as an independent democratic country and transforming the existing American consulate into a full embassy. Indeed, even before independence, there had been recorded contacts between Kenneth Kaunda and U.S. leaders, including a notable 1961 White House meeting with John F. Kennedy during KK's nationalist campaigns — a meeting that reportedly impressed both men — underscoring just how early Washington's interest in, and hold on, Lusaka took root. China, on the other hand, established diplomatic relations with Zambia just five days after independence, on October 29, 1964, marking one of the earliest recognitions of Beijing. It is also notably recorded that China had supported Zambia even before independence with material aid, further highlighting the beginning of a long contest for influence and hold over a small, strategically vital, mineral-rich country. This dualistic foreign policy of balance and imbalance was first set off in 1965, after sanctions had been imposed on Southern Rhodesia resulting from its Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Zambia, formerly Northern R