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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.

news politics

All Episodes

48:41

A Discussion With the Journalists Behind the BBC Doc...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/06/30

The BBC investigative unit Africa Eye turned a powerful spotlight last month on a multi-million dollar business in China that exploits people in developing regions, including young children in Africa, to produce so-called "blessing videos." Many of these videos may seem innocuous where Africans hold up signs in Chinese to wish people good luck on a test or sign happy birthday, for example. But many others are highly exploitative and downright demeaning. Journalists Runako Celina and Henry Mhango led

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33:48

How Did China Do in Its First Horn of Africa Peace...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/06/25

China's Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, wrapped up a two-day peace conference in Addis Ababa last week, Beijing's first-ever effort to mediate conflicts outside of Asia. Xue personally offered to serve as a broker to help resolve many of the ongoing tensions that currently roil the region. Superficially, all of the participants responded favorably to China's efforts but the real test will come in the months ahead to see if Beijing can match its promises with tangible results. Aly

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58:11

A Conversation With Huang Ping, China's Consul...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/06/16

China's Consul General in New York City, Huang Ping, is a veteran diplomat with extensive experience in both North America and Africa. Prior to taking on the CG role in NYC, Huang was ambassador to Zimbabwe from 2015 to 2018. Huang recently sat down with Eric & Cobus for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of U.S.-China relations, human rights issues, and reflections on his time in Harare. Francophone Editor Geraud Neema also joins the discussion for analysis on the key issues raised in this

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59:54

Africa in the Era of Great Power Competition

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/06/10

Policymakers in most African countries are facing unimaginable challenges brought on by the pandemic, economic disruption, climate change, and the impact of the war in Ukraine. As if that wasn't enough, the increasingly contentious U.S.-China conflict adds even more uncertainty. While these are difficult times, particularly for smaller states on the continent, geopolitical analyst Ronak Golpadas, a director at the South African risk management firm Signal Risk, says there's one thing in particular

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01:08:37

The Politics of Chinese-financed Infrastructure...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/06/03

How African governments negotiate infrastructure deals with Chinese lenders and construction companies is far more complex than many assume. While most focus on the role of the head of state, the reality is that the leader is just one of many actors that has a say in the process. A trio of scholars recently published an in-depth analysis that explores the internal political dynamics for three high-profile Chinese infrastructure projects in East Africa including the Bagamoyo Port in Tanzania, the

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01:01:45

U.S.-China Tech Competition in the Middle East

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/05/27

While U.S. President Joe Biden is stepping up his efforts to confront China's dominance in the Asia-Pacific, he might also want to pay attention to what's happening in the Middle East. Chinese influence in the Mideast and Persian Gulf regions has been steadily rising over the two years, particularly in the tech sector where firms like Huawei, ZTE, and Hikvision among others are rapidly expanding. In fact, China is so far ahead, according to Mohammed Soliman, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East

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01:02:36

Magalie Masamba on What It's Going to Take to Resolve...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/05/20

Until a few years ago, before the pandemic, most African economies were among the world's best performing in terms of debt. Revenues were sufficient and debt-to-GDP levels were largely well below the IMF's 50% threshold. But today, that is no longer the case. Many of the continent's largest economies are in a desperate struggle to avoid getting sucked into a debt spiral where they're borrowing more and more just to repay loans. That, plus the challenges brought on by surging food prices, weakening

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49:40

Update on the Current State of China-Nigeria Ties...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/05/17

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had envisioned leaving office with vast amounts of shiny new Chinese-financed infrastructure built throughout the country. That's not going to happen. China has lost its appetite for large-scale development projects in Nigeria leaving some $15 billion of rail and other initiatives unfunded. But that doesn't mean that Nigeria still isn't very important to China's broader Africa agenda. Chinese companies are attracted to the large consumer market, its political heft

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53:50

Lightning Round: U.S. Summits, Huawei and Chinese...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/05/13

In this Lightning Round edition of the show, CAP Managing Editor Cobus van Staden and CAP Francophone Editor Geraud Neema break down three of the week's big stories. First, Cobus explains why African leaders would be well advised to closely follow the events at this week's U.S.-ASEAN summit in Washington, D.C. Then, the State Department's #2 official, Wendy Sherman, restated longstanding warnings about the risks African countries face when they use Huawei equipment. Finally, Geraud breakdown a

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48:35

China and the Future of Environmental Governance in...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/05/10

Ghana's worsening economic crisis is prompting concerns it will further erode the country's already weak environmental governance system that Chinese actors have profited from in the mining, fishing, and timber sectors. Meantime, local communities across the country suffer amid declining fish stocks, polluted waterways, and unregulated deforestation. Francis Xavier Tuokuu, a leading environmental scholar and a research fellow at the Ghana-based Afro-Sino Centre of International Relations contends

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01:02:17

Huawei in North Africa: Lots of Good PR, Not a Lot of...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/05/06

Huawei's success in Africa is undeniable. It's built large swathes of the continent's telecom network and is an indispensable player at almost every layer of the African technology stack. But when it comes to transferring skills and technology, the company's record is a bit more checkered. Tin Hinane El Kadi, a doctoral student at the London School of Economics and an associate fellow at Chatham House, contends in a new report published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that in both

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47:59

State of the BRI and the Messy Politics of a "Just...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/04/29

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is undergoing some dramatic changes as Beijing pulls back on the massive loans that once defined it as the government is now forced to channel more funds domestically to bolster the country's slowing economy. Nowhere is that more evident than in Africa where we learned this week that lending in 2020 plunged 77% from the previous year to just $1.9 billion, a 16-year low. Cynthia Liao, a Schwarzman Academy Fellow in the Africa program at the London think tank

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57:00

The Port of Mombasa Was Never at Risk of Being Seized...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/04/26

A 2018 leaked report from Kenya's Auditor General sparked a years-long frenzy over whether the Port of Mombasa was put up as collateral against the loans from the China Exim Bank for the Standard Gauge Railway and could be seized in the event of a default. The story is now a foundational part of the "debt trap" lending narrative that continues to cloud Chinese infrastructure financing in Africa. A team led by Professor Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns

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43:55

Lessons For South Africa From China's Tech Hub in...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/04/22

As South African policymakers plot their country's economic revival from the past several years of worsening economic crisis, boosting the country's tech industry is going to play a pivotal role in their plans. Grace Yuehan Wang, a researcher at the South African National Research Foundation and a postdoctoral scholar at Stellenbosch University says China's mega technology hub Shenzhen could offer some valuable insights. Plus, CAP's Francophone Editor Geraud Neema joins us to discuss the 20-year

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57:59

Is It Time for a New Non-Aligned Movement?

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/04/20

This week marks the 67th anniversary of the Bandung Conference in Indonesia which brought together 29 Asian and African countries at the height of the Cold War and marked the beginning of what would later become the Non-Aligned Movement. Back then, more than a hundred countries were a part of this movement to avoid being drawn into the U.S.-Soviet dual and to foster greater ties within the so-called "Third World." Today, as Russia's ties with the U.S. revert to their Cold War chilliness and the U.S

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56:53

A Discussion With Elizabeth Economy About the World...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/04/15

Acclaimed China scholar Elizabeth Economy join Eric & Cobus this week to discuss her new book for 2022 "The World According to China." It's important to note the interview with Elizabeth was recorded before Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the expanded outbreak of COVID-19 in China but it's nonetheless fascinating to see how prescient many of her comments were in the context of the current situation. Also, Cobus and Eric provide an update on the latest Chinese trade figures and how the severe

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01:00:40

China, Africa and a New Alternative International Order

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/04/13

There's an emerging consensus among many leading international relations scholars that Russia's invasion of Ukraine marked the official end of the post-Cold War era and the beginning of, well... actually... no one's actually sure what's coming next but whatever it is China is definitely going to play a central role. China's framing of this emerging alternative international order is happening right now in Africa and the Middle East, according to a new book by Dawn Murphy, an associate professor at

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53:47

Can the "Shanghai Model" Solve the Global South Debt...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/04/08

During the last major Global South debt crisis in the late 1980s, the United States pioneered an initiative that bundled together all of these countries' debts into a bond that would then be re-packaged and sold to investors. These so-called "Brady Bonds" were very effective in giving many of the poorest, most indebted countries the breathing room they needed to recover. Now, as developing countries are confronting yet another debilitating debt crisis, an update to the Brady Bond idea is now

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58:14

The Ukraine War and Great Power Politics in the...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/04/01

While the war in Ukraine has done a lot to repair the West's once frayed alliance, it's also brought together a disparate group of countries throughout the Global South who have resisted condemning Russia for the invasion and Moscow's brutal assault on civilian populations. To those small and mid-sized countries, picking a side in this conflict is a luxury many feel they simply cannot afford given the powerful geopolitical currents that are now in motion. Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa

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01:11:23

New Trends in Chinese Overseas Development Finance

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2022/03/25

In less than six years, China's financing of overseas energy projects in the Global South plunged from $35 billion to zero, according to new data released this week from Boston University's Global Development Policy Center. BU's findings mirror a broader pullback in official Chinese lending in other sectors as well, indicating a profound change in Chinese international development finance. To be sure, China is still extending loans to developing countries but they're smaller and require much more

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434 results

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