Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, issued the following statement on Thursday:

“It is the long-term geostrategic goal of China to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, and its latest gambit occurred when central bankers and officials from 14 African nations discussed the viability of using China’s yuan as a reserve currency for the region.

“For the sake of global human rights and anti-corruption efforts, it is critically important that we monitor and defend the U.S dollar’s reserve status in Africa. The keystone of our accountability efforts in Africa is that African leaders must deal with a global financial system based on the U.S. dollar.

“Given the horrible track record China has in Africa on human rights and the rule of law, encouraging and enabling corruption and abuses, it is all the more disconcerting that a group of African countries is considering the yuan as a reserve currency. We must work to retain the prime status of the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency in Africa; if we fail, China will be able to spread its bad governance model and the ultimate loser will be the African people.”