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PODCAST

The China in Africa Podcast

The China-Global South Project

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.

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All Episodes

43:53

China's Small but Important Role in Ghana's Debt Crisis

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/31

China's share of Ghana's $55 billion public debt is quite small at just $1.7 billion or 3% of the total, but Beijing nonetheless plays a critical role in Accra's efforts to revive its economy. The Ghanaian government needs China's support in order to secure an emergency financial package from the International Monetary Fund. While that may sound straightforward, it's not. Zambia is up against a similar challenge and its debt restructuring process has stalled, largely because of a stand-off between

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43:10

[GLOBAL SOUTH] China's Lending Money Again to...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/30

Chinese lending to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean is gaining momentum. For the second year in a row, China's two largest policy banks have increased lending to countries in the region, albeit in much smaller amounts than what they did a decade ago. At the same time, there's word that China has spent close to a quarter trillion dollars over the past twenty years to bail out dozens of countries struggling to stay afloat under the weight of such much debt. Margaret Myers, director of the

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50:23

CAR Attack Sparks New Concerns About Safety of...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/24

One week after a brutal attack on a Chinese mining site in the Central African Republic (CAR) that killed nine people and injured two others, it's still not clear who is responsible and why they did it. All Chinese personnel in the country have been ordered to evacuate remote areas and those in the capital Bangui are sheltering in place. Meantime, Chinese embassies in both Nigeria and South Africa issued urgent security warnings to their citizens in those countries to take immediate precautions

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01:14:05

Reporting Tips for African Journalists Covering China

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/22

Reporting on China is difficult even for the most experienced journalist who's spent years living there and speaks the language. So, it's not surprising that reporters in Africa who've had limited exposure to the country often struggle to cover China-related news. In this special episode produced in conjunction with the Africa-China Reporting Project (ACRP) at Wits University in Johannesburg, Eric is joined by veteran China Watcher, Kaiser Kuo, founder and host of the popular Sinica podcast, to

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49:24

Africa's Role in China's Evolving Geopolitical...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/16

It's been a momentous past two weeks for Chinese foreign policy with major a breakthrough in the Sri Lanka debt impasse and the landmark announcement that Beijing helped to broker the restoration of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Meantime, China also reacted strongly to the announcement that Australia plans to purchase nearly $400 billion of nuclear-powered submarines from the U.S. and the UK. In this new, more contentious era of great power rivalries, the question of where Africa fits into

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18:39

[GLOBAL SOUTH] What Lessons Should the U.S. Take From...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/16

This month's surprise announcement that China brokered the restoration of diplomatic relations between longtime rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia prompted widespread excitement in Beijing and considerable consternation among U.S. conservatives. The implication for both is that China's role in the process symbolized the decline of U.S. influence in the region. Not so says Mohammed Soliman, one of the leading Arab political analysts in Washington, D.C. based at the Middle East Institute and also a manager

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59:14

[GLOBAL SOUTH] What to Make of China's Mideast...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/15

New details are emerging about the landmark diplomatic deal brokered by China for Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations. The initial excitement about the prospects for peace between these two Persian Gulf rivals has given way to a more sober assessment that effectively says the agreement is a good first step but that's about it. The key test is going to be whether both sides are going to pull back from their proxy fights in places like Yemen. Until that's done, it's still too early

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53:53

China vs. the Multilateral Development Banks

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/09

There was a major breakthrough this week in China's months-long standoff with the World Bank, IMF, and other multilateral creditors when Beijing agreed to fully back Sri Lanka's debt restructuring. The move now clears the way for Colombo to secure $2.9 billion in emergency IMF funding and to put the South Asian country on the path toward recovery. Now, everyone wants to know whether China will extend a similar offer to Zambia, Ghana, and Ethiopia which are also in the midst of similar debt

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51:04

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Latin America Was Once an Afterthought...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/07

In just the past twenty years, China's trade with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean surged 26-fold to almost half-a-trillion dollars. The region is also now a major destination for Chinese foreign investment and becoming a critically important new front in China's geopolitical confrontation with the United States. While there's no dispute that China is now a major player in the region, knowledge about Chinese engagement in the Americas nonetheless remains surprisingly low, particularly

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57:50

WEEK IN REVIEW: China-IMF Debt Standoff | France's...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/03/02

The G20 finance ministers meeting in India came and went without any progress on the debt standoff between China and the IMF/World Bank over who should take losses on loans to the world's poorest countries. Meantime, France announced another "new" strategy to revive its Africa strategy, partially in response to China's growing influence on the continent. CGSP Francophone Editor Geraud Neema joins Eric & Cobus to share his perspective on those stories plus an update on the controversial joint naval

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01:01:13

WEEK IN REVIEW: South Africa: Naval Drills | Ghana:...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/02/24

Controversial joint naval exercises among South Africa, Russia, and China got underway this week off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, prompting a fierce backlash from critics who blasted Pretoria for legitimizing Russia on the first anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine. Also this week, Ghana's finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta traveled to Beijing hoping to restructure its debt and Chinese mining companies in the DR Congo negotiated a demand for $17 billion of new infrastructure down to just $500 million

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50:23

[GLOBAL SOUTH] Wang Huiyao on 'China's Misunderstood...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/02/22

Senior-level Chinese stakeholders often contend that one of the main reasons for today's heightened geopolitical tensions between China and the West is due to "misunderstandings" of its foreign policy objectives by outsiders. Chinese distrust is also fueled by a longstanding feeling of victimization by the West and a sense that they've lost the "narrative battle" in international media. Wang Huiyao, president and founder of the Beijing-based think tank Centre for China and Globalisation, wants to

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51:34

What the New Port of Lekki in Nigeria Tells Us About...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/02/17

China is no longer in the game of providing African countries with enormous loans to finance large-scale infrastructure projects. In fact, BRI financing last year for projects in Africa plunged more than 50% to just $7.5 billion. But that doesn't mean Chinese companies still aren't building big things in Africa. Stella Hong Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation joins Eric & Cobus to discuss her new research on the Port of

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53:32

[GLOBAL SOUTH] China, Latin America, and the Rise of...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/02/17

During the first Cold War, a large group of developing countries sought to distance themselves from the ideological battle between the United States and the Soviet Union to create a Non-Aligned Movement. Today, three decades later, at the dawn of yet another Great Power competition, this time between the U.S. and China, Global South countries are once again saying they don't want any part of it. Jorge Heine, a former Chilean ambassador to China and now a research professor at Boston University joins

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42:08

It's Getting Tougher for African Students to Get a...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/02/10

Thousands of African students are back in class again in China following a three-year absence due to the pandemic and Beijing's strict COVID Zero travel restrictions. But doctoral students from Africa and elsewhere are confronting new challenges in completing their degrees, according to research done by a trio of Oxford University scholars. David Mills, Anding Shi, and Natasha Robinson join Eric, Cobus, and Geraud to discuss how Chinese universities are "moving the goal posts" for doctoral students

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52:07

How the U.S. Aims to Compete With China in Critical...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/02/08

U.S. officials are speaking out about the urgency to diversify supply chains for critical resources that are now largely dependent on China, particularly rare earths, cobalt, and lithium that are all essential ingredients in manufacturing electric vehicle batteries. It's a hot topic this week at Africa's largest mining conference that's taking place in Cape Town. Although senior U.S. diplomats speaking at the conference haven't actually said the word "China," the "C" word is nonetheless clearly on

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59:36

The Role of Chinese Solar Technology in Africa's Just...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/02/03

China is by far the world's dominant producer of solar power technology which is becoming increasingly popular in places like Africa that are under mounting pressure to transition from reliance on fossil fuels to new, greener renewable sources of energy. Nicola Licata, a Shanghai-based project manager at the U.S. consultancy Clean Energy Associates, and her Washington, D.C.-based colleague, Associate Engineer Raiene Santana, discuss China's outsized role in the solar power supply chain and the

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49:51

[GLOBAL SOUTH] What's Driving the Steady Decline in...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/02/01

There was a time when Chinese lending to developing countries rivaled the World Bank. Those days are now long gone as Chinese overseas development lending has been on a steady downward trajectory. New data from Boston University's Global Development Policy Center (GDPC) reports that in 2020-2021, China granted just 28 loan commitments worth just $10.5 billion -- a small fraction of what was lent in the early 2010s. Rebecca Ray, a senior researcher at GDPC, and Tarela Moses, a data analyst at the

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01:00:06

A New Era of U.S. and Chinese Engagement in Africa is...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/01/27

This was a big week for both the U.S. and China in Africa as both major powers' new, more robust engagement strategies were on full display. For the U.S., two cabinet secretaries toured the region this week, while Chinese officials in several African countries were on hand to commission a suite of large infrastructure projects. Ken Opalo, an assistant professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, joins Eric & Cobus from Washington to discuss how the heightened activity from both

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41:59

Why More Young Chinese Professionals Are Looking For...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2023/01/19

Near record high levels of youth unemployment in China is prompting more young graduates to look abroad for work, particularly in Africa. Recruiters say they can't find enough people to work in both private companies and Chinese state-owned enterprises as translators, accountants, and other administrative roles. While moving so far away from home isn't ideal for a lot of young people, it's also hard to resist the higher salaries, generous benefits, and the adventure of living overseas, according to

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433 results

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