The China in Africa Podcast

By The China-Global South Project

What's The China in Africa Podcast about?

Twice-weekly discussion about China's engagement across Africa and the Global South hosted by journalist Eric Olander and Asia-Africa scholar Cobus van Staden in Johannesburg.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The China in Africa Podcast episodes:

04.22.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Should China Use Its Influence With Iran to Help the U.S. and Israel?
Senior U.S. leaders have once again called on China to use its considerable economic leverage to persuade Iran to change its behavior in the escalating conflict with Israel. Various U.S. have made this same request on several occasions already, going...
04.19.2024
U.S.-China Competition for Africa's Critical Resources
China maintains a massive lead over the U.S. and other G7 countries in both mining and refining capacity in Africa, a key vulnerability that policymakers in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere say they're determined to rectify. A new report from...
04.12.2024
The State of Chinese Tech in Africa With Benjamin Dada
For much of the past ten years, Chinese technology in Africa focused largely on devices and infrastructure. But today, the conversations also include issues related to governance, online services, and the emergence of artificial intelligence. Benjamin Dada, founder of the...
04.05.2024
Labor Relations at Chinese Construction Sites in Africa
Few topics have shaped perceptions about China's engagement in Africa more than the presence of Chinese construction sites across the continent. Chinese contractors have built countless ports, roads, railways, and more, but how that work was done has been very...
04.03.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Why a Chinese-backed Canal Project in Cambodia is Making Vietnam Very Nervous
Former Cambodian strongman Hun Sen was in Beijing last week lobbying the Chinese government to move forward with the $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal project which his son, President Hun Manet, has made the centerpiece of his new administration. The...
03.28.2024
Tang Xiaoyang on Why the U.S., Not China is to Blame for Africa’s Debt Problems
While many in the West still contend Africa's worsening debt crisis is largely due to excessive Chinese lending, Tsinghua University Professor Tang Xiaoyang argues that accusation just isn't true. Instead, the well-known China-Africa scholar contends the main problems facing...
03.26.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Chinese EV Brands Want to Dominate Global South Auto Markets
Enthusiasm for electric vehicles is waning in both the U.S. and China, but that is definitely not the case in other parts of the world where EV adoption rates are steadily rising. In fact, at the Bangkok Motor Show this...
03.22.2024
WEEK IN REVIEW: Why Angola is the "Vietnam of Africa"
Angolan President João Lourenço returned from a three-day visit to China loaded with goodies. He secured an upgrade in diplomatic ties, promises of new investment and, most importantly, a major reduction in monthly debt payments. Lourenço's success in China comes...
03.20.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Author Jeremy Garlick on China's Strategic Advantage in the Global South
U.S. and European officials often lament that they've fallen behind China when it comes to engaging Africa, Asia, the Americas, and other developing regions. Western governments aren't set up to rapidly deploy the kind of money and resources that Beijing's...
03.14.2024
China's Slowing Economy Could be a Catalyst for Change in Africa
Angolan President João Lourenço kicked off a three-day visit to China this week that will take him to Beijing and Shandong Province. The timing of Lourenço's trip comes as the Chinese economy is facing enormous challenges amid a plunge in...
03.08.2024
A Call for African & Latin American Countries to Share Notes on Dealings With China
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi confirmed this week the triennial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) conference that will take place later this year in Beijing will, in fact, be a leaders summit. Before the FOCAC summit, Latin American and Caribbean...
03.05.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Surveying the Geopolitical Landscape in SE Asia With ASEAN Wonk Prasanth Parmeswaran
The escalating tensions between China, the Philippines and the United States in the South China Sea highlight how Southeast Asia is now the most dangerous frontline in the burgeoning Great Power competition between Beijing and Washington. But as this week's...
02.29.2024
Chinese Diplomacy in Sierra Leone and Nigeria With Tobi Oshodi
Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio is in the midst of a five-day visit to China that included talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, among other high-level officials. While Bio is getting a lot of face-time with...
02.28.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] China and the Indonesia Nickel Trade: Measuring the True Labor and Environmental Cost
A lot of EV consumers bought new battery-powered cars in the hope it would be better for the environment than a vehicle with a conventional internal combustion engine that runs on fossil fuels. By some measures, that's no doubt true....
02.23.2024
What Exactly is the "Global South"?
Academics and think tank analysts, predominantly in the U.S. and Europe, spend a lot of time debating whether it's appropriate to use the nomenclature "Global South" to describe developing countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, among other regions. In...
02.21.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] China-Indonesia Ties in the New Prabowo Subianto Era
They're still counting the votes in Indonesia after last week's election but it's all but certain that Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto will become the country's next president. While some of the world's major powers like the U.S. and India are...
02.16.2024
Africa's Digital Sovereignty in the Era of U.S.-China Great Power Competition
In the increasingly acrimonious competition between the U.S. and China over technology standards, it's often assumed that smaller countries in places like Africa lack the necessary agency to determine their digital destinies. In some instances, that is, in fact, true,...
02.09.2024
Africa's Debt Dilemma: The Urgent Need for More Equitable Borrowing
For the first time in years, a few African countries are venturing back into the bond market to raise funds for infrastructure and to pay down their debts. However, borrowing more from private creditors is a risky move given the...
02.01.2024
WEEK IN REVIEW: Kenya to Overhaul China Policy & Chinese Infrastructure in the DRC
Kenya has a new envoy to China, Willy Bett, who formally presented his credentials to President Xi Jinping this week. Among Ambassador Bett's first tasks will be to follow up on Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Musalia Mudavadi's promise to...
01.31.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] China's New Investment Priorities In Latin America And The Caribbean
For much of the past year, there's been a lot of talk about China's new leaner, more focused Belt and Road Initiative that goes by the mantra "Smart and Beautiful." The problem is very few people actually know what it...
01.25.2024
Noo Saro-Wiwa on "Black Ghosts" in China and the Complex Lives of the African Diaspora
Author Noo Saro-Wiwa had not spent much time in China when she heard that cities like Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Yiwu, among others, were home to large, vibrant African migrant communities. But other than some of the headlines about the...
01.22.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Why Vietnam is Not "In Play" in the U.S.-China Rivalry
There was a lot of speculation in the U.S. last year that an upgrade of diplomatic ties with Vietnam would prompt Hanoi to be more aligned with Washington in its rivalry with China. While Vietnam did embark on a flurry...
01.18.2024
Chinese Weapons Are Becoming Increasingly Popular in Africa
Militaries across Africa are increasingly turning to China to source advanced weapons systems that were long unavailable from Western suppliers. Sophisticated Chinese-made drones, missile systems, and cyber-warfare technologies, among others, are now commonplace on African battlefields. Ekene Lionel, director of...
01.17.2024
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Guarding West Africa's Forests: Exploring Ways to Put an End to Illegal Chinese Timber Trade
Together, the United States and China import $40 billion worth of timber products each year, quite a bit of which is harvested illegally from West Africa's rapidly shrinking forests. But cracking down on this illicit trade is extremely difficult given...
01.11.2024
China-Africa Relations in 2024: Insights From Six Experts
China's engagement in Africa is at a critical inflection point where many of the various stakeholders in this important relationship are re-evaluating what they want from the other. In this special episode, we speak with six prominent experts from Africa,...
12.21.2023
The Africa-China 2023 Year in Review
2023 was a transformative year for China’s ties with Africa. Chinese investment, trade, and diplomatic engagement were either flat or declined sharply over the past year, highlighting how this once-vibrant relationship is now entering a new, more austere period. In...
12.15.2023
WEEK IN REVIEW: Ethiopia Debt Update | China @COP28 | Chinese Energy Projects in Africa
Ethiopia is the latest African country that is now teetering on the verge of default after the government announced this week that it would not be able to make a $33 million bond payment. Eric speaks with Mark Bohlund, a...
12.08.2023
Chinese 'Illegal Mining Queen' Jailed in Ghana
Aisha Huang -- a Chinese national with the notorious nickname "Galamsey Queen" -- is now sitting in a Ghanaian prison cell after she was sentenced this week by the High Court in Accra for running a massive illegal mining operation....
12.01.2023
A Primer on China's Role in the Worsening Zambian Debt Crisis
Zambia's debt restructuring deal that was hailed earlier this year as a "landmark" breakthrough for developing countries is now in shambles. Talks broke down a couple of weeks ago when bilateral creditors led by China and France objected to the...
11.24.2023
WEEK IN REVIEW: Zambia Debt | Lula's China Diss | China-Africa Journalism
Zambia suffered a major setback this week in its nearly three-year odyssey to restructure $32 billion of debt when the country's bilateral creditors led by China and France pushed back against bondholders. Plus, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva...
11.21.2023
[GLOBAL SOUTH] China's Response to the Israel-Hamas War
Prior to the October 7th terrorist attack by Hamas in southern Israel, China had positioned itself as a new power broker in the Middle East. Chinese officials were brimming with confidence after they finalized a détente between Iran and Saudi...
11.16.2023
Africa is at the Center of U.S.-China Competition for Critical Resources
U.S. lawmakers met this week to discuss how to combat the use of child labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's cobalt mining sector which they claim is largely controlled by Chinese mining companies. The issue is part of...
11.14.2023
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Chinese Overseas Investment: Which Countries Will Benefit Most?
Amid a slowing economy at home, more Chinese companies are now looking to invest abroad in search of higher returns. While there's been a lot of hope in recent years that some of that money would find its way to...
11.10.2023
What the Past Tells Us About the Future of the BRI
There's a widely-held perception in many parts of the U.S., Europe, and India that debt and geopolitics have led to the demise of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). But a landmark new study from AidData proves otherwise, revealing not...
11.07.2023
Chinese Infrastructure Projects in Africa Don't Meet ESG Standards
Two years ago, China introduced a series of new so-called "green guidelines" that it hoped would promote more sustainable development abroad. But in Africa, according to a new research report, it appears those higher environmental, social, and governance (ESG) have...
11.01.2023
New Documentary Humanizes the China-Africa Relationship
Eat Bitter is a new documentary making the rounds of the international film festival circuit that tells the story of two men, one from China and the other from the Central African Republic (CAR), who work on opposite ends of...
10.26.2023
Assessing the Impact of Chinese Media Influence in Africa
China's media presence in Africa is far more pervasive today than it was a decade ago, but not in the conventional way. Very few people consume China's traditional media offerings on the continent but millions, often unaware, engage with Chinese-produced...
10.20.2023
Africa's Strong Presence at China's Belt & Road Forum
Five of the 24 heads of state who attended this week's Belt and Road Forum in Beijing were from African countries, highlighting the prominent role the continent played at the event. Many of the themes that emerged from the two-day...
10.12.2023
Zimbabwe's Elite Share Their Views on China: What a New Survey Reveals
Across Africa, public opinion about China has been quite positive overall with favorability ratings surpassing those of other major powers, including the United States. But not in Zimbabwe, at least among the country's elites, according to a new survey. Only...
10.10.2023
[GLOBAL SOUTH] Michael Pettis Explains How China's Changing Economy Will Impact the World
China's economy emerged from the pandemic much weaker than before. Unemployment is up, exports are down and a burgeoning property crisis is having a devastating impact on local government finances. These changes in the economy are happening very fast, so...
10.06.2023
What's It Like to Study China-Africa Relations at Harvard University?
Only a handful of universities around the world teach area studies courses in China-Africa relations. It's a field that was once quite popular but less so today as interest in studying Chinese affairs more broadly has fallen precipitously. Student enrollment,...
09.29.2023
Africa at the Intersection of Three Megatrends: China, Climate and Debt
Dramatic scenes this week in Italy where 7,000 people, mostly from Africa, came ashore after making the dangerous trek across the Mediterranean. It was a similar situation along the U.S.-Mexico border where 9,000 people crossed in a single day. Poverty,...
09.26.2023
[GLOBAL SOUTH] How China's Economic Slowdown Impacts Developing Countries
The Chinese economy is in trouble. Exports, manufacturing output, and investment are all down. Unemployment, particularly among young people is up. Provincial debt is now at a record $8 trillion while a burgeoning property crisis has eliminated a once reliable...
09.21.2023
Chinese Lending to Africa Plunges to 20-Year Low
Chinese lending to African countries plunged to below a billion dollars in 2022, the lowest level in two decades, according to new data from the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University. The findings confirm that the era of Beijing...
09.18.2023
[GLOBAL SOUTH] The Downward Spiral of China-India Relations
There was a glimmer of hope last month that China and India would pull back from their increasingly contentious standoff when military commanders concluded talks along their disputed border on a somewhat optimistic note. The hope was that these talks...
09.15.2023
WEEK IN REVIEW: AU in G20 and the New "Chinese Savior" Narrative in Africa
The Chinese Foreign Ministry was among the first major governments this week to welcome the African Union as the newest member of the G20. The big question now is what will the AU do now that it has a seat...
09.12.2023
[GLOBAL SOUTH] BRI @ 10: Lessons From Cambodia About Chinese Investment
China's Belt and Road Initiative marked its 10th anniversary this month, prompting a lot of discussion about what's next for Beijing's controversial development agenda. While BRI spending in Africa and the Americas has plummeted in recent years that is not...
09.07.2023
Why Boosting Africa-Southeast Asian Trade & Investment Makes So Much Sense
There's been a surge of activity in Africa-ASEAN relations in recent weeks highlighted by Indonesian President Joko Widodo's recent African tour and the Singapore-Africa Business Forum that took place earlier this month in the Lion City. Closer trade and investment...
09.01.2023
China's Indispensable Role in Africa's Railway Renaissance
Over the past 20 years, tens of thousands of kilometers of new railway lines have been built across Africa - much of it constructed and financed by China. But the days when Beijing paid big bucks to build these kinds...
08.29.2023
[GLOBAL SOUTH] China and the Politics of Global Climate Diplomacy
The failure of G20 countries last month to agree on a plan to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 highlights a key problem in the ongoing debate over how to respond to climate change: the institutions that are designed to...

What's The China in Africa Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The China in Africa Podcast episodes:

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Should China Use Its Influence With Iran to Help the U.S. and Israel?

U.S.-China Competition for Africa's Critical Resources

The State of Chinese Tech in Africa With Benjamin Dada

Labor Relations at Chinese Construction Sites in Africa

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Why a Chinese-backed Canal Project in Cambodia is Making Vietnam Very Nervous

Tang Xiaoyang on Why the U.S., Not China is to Blame for Africa’s Debt Problems

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Chinese EV Brands Want to Dominate Global South Auto Markets

WEEK IN REVIEW: Why Angola is the "Vietnam of Africa"

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Author Jeremy Garlick on China's Strategic Advantage in the Global South

China's Slowing Economy Could be a Catalyst for Change in Africa

A Call for African & Latin American Countries to Share Notes on Dealings With China

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Surveying the Geopolitical Landscape in SE Asia With ASEAN Wonk Prasanth Parmeswaran

Chinese Diplomacy in Sierra Leone and Nigeria With Tobi Oshodi

[GLOBAL SOUTH] China and the Indonesia Nickel Trade: Measuring the True Labor and Environmental Cost

What Exactly is the "Global South"?

[GLOBAL SOUTH] China-Indonesia Ties in the New Prabowo Subianto Era

Africa's Digital Sovereignty in the Era of U.S.-China Great Power Competition

Africa's Debt Dilemma: The Urgent Need for More Equitable Borrowing

WEEK IN REVIEW: Kenya to Overhaul China Policy & Chinese Infrastructure in the DRC

[GLOBAL SOUTH] China's New Investment Priorities In Latin America And The Caribbean

Noo Saro-Wiwa on "Black Ghosts" in China and the Complex Lives of the African Diaspora

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Why Vietnam is Not "In Play" in the U.S.-China Rivalry

Chinese Weapons Are Becoming Increasingly Popular in Africa

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Guarding West Africa's Forests: Exploring Ways to Put an End to Illegal Chinese Timber Trade

China-Africa Relations in 2024: Insights From Six Experts

The Africa-China 2023 Year in Review

WEEK IN REVIEW: Ethiopia Debt Update | China @COP28 | Chinese Energy Projects in Africa

Chinese 'Illegal Mining Queen' Jailed in Ghana

A Primer on China's Role in the Worsening Zambian Debt Crisis

WEEK IN REVIEW: Zambia Debt | Lula's China Diss | China-Africa Journalism

[GLOBAL SOUTH] China's Response to the Israel-Hamas War

Africa is at the Center of U.S.-China Competition for Critical Resources

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Chinese Overseas Investment: Which Countries Will Benefit Most?

What the Past Tells Us About the Future of the BRI

Chinese Infrastructure Projects in Africa Don't Meet ESG Standards

New Documentary Humanizes the China-Africa Relationship

Assessing the Impact of Chinese Media Influence in Africa

Africa's Strong Presence at China's Belt & Road Forum

Zimbabwe's Elite Share Their Views on China: What a New Survey Reveals

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Michael Pettis Explains How China's Changing Economy Will Impact the World

What's It Like to Study China-Africa Relations at Harvard University?

Africa at the Intersection of Three Megatrends: China, Climate and Debt

[GLOBAL SOUTH] How China's Economic Slowdown Impacts Developing Countries

Chinese Lending to Africa Plunges to 20-Year Low

[GLOBAL SOUTH] The Downward Spiral of China-India Relations

WEEK IN REVIEW: AU in G20 and the New "Chinese Savior" Narrative in Africa

[GLOBAL SOUTH] BRI @ 10: Lessons From Cambodia About Chinese Investment

Why Boosting Africa-Southeast Asian Trade & Investment Makes So Much Sense

China's Indispensable Role in Africa's Railway Renaissance

[GLOBAL SOUTH] China and the Politics of Global Climate Diplomacy