Roger Simon, the co-founder of PJ Media and current columnist for The Epoch Times, recently traveled to Tanzania in East Africa with his wife for their 30th anniversary.
Simon and his wife stayed at a hotel in Dar es Salaam – the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania.
On Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Simon noted the notable presence of Chinese influence he saw while on his trip, explaining the role China plays in impoverished countries like Tanzania.
“One thing that was interesting about the trip was that I was interested in the role of Communist China. I saw the presence in Africa of China,” Simon said. “What people don’t know is the Chinese lend money to impoverished nations like Tanzania, where I was, and many African nations in order for them to build infrastructure projects like roads and bridges and everything else. Now, the Chinese know very well that these people are not going to be able to pay them back.”
“I talked to [Tanzanians] about that, and they’re not stupid. They know that’s the game that the Chinese are playing. But, they pointed out to me that no matter who owns the bridges, in the end, they finally have some. Whereas, with the Americans and the Europeans, what we do is give something called foreign aid. The foreign aid, of course, they all know, goes always into the maw of their local politicians. It’s grift. In other words, the Chinese are a bit smarter. In fact, my last day in Tanzania, I was staying at the richest hotel in Dar es Salaam which was a nice hotel. But, I went down for the very big breakfast that they offered, and the whole room was filled with Chinese businessmen, many in jackets and ties, looking very spiffy who had come to take over the joint,” Simon added.
Simon further criticized America’s “vision of the foreign aid method,” calling it “nonsense” which simply “enriches people.”
In addition to their stay in Dar es Salaam, Simon and his wife went on a safari trip at the Kigelia Safari Camp inside the Ruaha National Park.
Simon said being on the safari was “remarkable” and “very ironically religious.”
“I have to say, the experience of being on safari is really a remarkable thing and very ironically religious. When you’re out there in the middle, as we were in Tanzania at a place called Ruaha National Park at the Kigali campsite, where you see every conceivable animal in the zoo and more in the wild, you cannot help but start to think, ‘Who created all this? How did this happen? Because you’re looking at the world as it was long before homo sapiens were walking around. There’s elephants all over, giraffes, lions, and a leopard that I took probably my best photograph of ever, because I was only about 5 feet away from the snarling fellow,” Simon said.
Simon and his wife, Sheryl Longin, detail more about their African trip in their new Substack called American Refugees, available at https://americanrefugees.substack.com/p/out-of-africa.
Watch the full interview:
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Roger Simon” and “African Coast” by Roger Simon.
