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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

01:02:03

Gauging the Effectiveness of Chinese Soft Power in...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/09/07

It is very difficult, if not impossible, right now to accurately public opinion perceptions of China in a region as large and diverse as Africa. There are strong indications that point in opposite directions. African leaders one after another shower China with praise for its ongoing support of infrastructure development and COVID-19 vaccine distribution among other activities. Meantime, civil society views of China in many African countries are seemingly becoming increasingly negative amid a steady

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A Conversation With Wu Peng, China's Top Diplomat For...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/09/03

This week Eric & Cobus sit down with Wu Peng, the director-general of the department of African affairs in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for his perspective on a wide range of issues that are impacting relations between the two regions. The conversation also features questions from a trio of experts in China-Africa relations including: Gyude Moore, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development (@gyude_moore) Zainab Usman, director of the Africa program at the Carnegie

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47:35

Can Africa Learn Anything From How China Runs Its...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/08/31

As African countries work to rebuild their economies from the wreckage caused by the ongoing COVID pandemic, policymakers will be looking at what they can do to bolster their countries' state-owned enterprises (SOE). That may prompt them to examine China's model of SOE governance for some inspiration. Although China's SOE system is largely unique to China and would be impossible to replicate in African countries, Luke Jordan, a practitioner in resident at the MIT Governance Lab, recently suggested

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59:06

New Trends in Chinese Energy & Development Finance

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/08/27

U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry will be in China next week to pressure the government to renounce all future financing of coal power plants around the world. Although China generally does not respond well to foreign demands like this, Beijing may have already acceded to Kerry's request. So far this year, China hasn't financed a single overseas coal project. This is the first time that's happened in more than a decade and appears to be part of a growing trend to focus its development finance

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51:58

Gyude Moore Reflects on a Week of Democracy, Debt &...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/08/18

A lot of major developments this week in the China-Africa space following Zambia's landslide election victory for opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema and new debt repayment challenges in Kenya for the embattled Standard Gauge Railway. Gyude Moore, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, has been closely following these events and joins Eric & Cobus from Washington to also reflect on how what happened in Kabul might impact U.S. foreign policy towards Africa. JOIN THE DISCUSSION:

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01:06:50

Assessing the Impact of Anti-China Sentiment in the...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/08/13

In many countries in Africa, Asia, and throughout the Global South there's often a large discrepancy between perceptions of China in civil society and among governing elites. This phenomenon has been on full display recently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where public anger surged in response to numerous videos circulating on social media that show the maltreatment of local mine workers by Chinese managers and reveal evidence of environmental violations by Chinese mining companies

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47:59

An Update on the Current State of China-Zimbabwe...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/08/11

China's ties with Zimbabwe are either going off the rails or are among the strongest most dynamic in Africa depending on who you listen to. Mounting civil society anger towards Chinese companies and their apparent disregard for local labor and environmental standards is becoming a huge problem. But at the same time, Chinese banks and enterprises are making huge investments in Zim's energy, mining and telecommunications infrastructure that's bringing badly needed jobs to this embattled country

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01:03:31

A Peek Into the Mysterious World of Chinese Diplomacy

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/08/06

Chinese diplomats around the world are comprised of a mix of reclusive bureaucrats who strenuously avoid public engagement and a new generation of assertive, sometimes even downright aggressive so-called "Wolf Warriors" who wage combat with Beijing's critics. Why they behave the way they do is a mystery to most outsiders. But a new book by Bloomberg journalist Peter Martin, "China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy," provides some fascinating insights on the people and principles

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58:02

China to Kenya: It's Payback Time

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/08/04

Kenya's National Treasury has resumed debt repayments to China after a 6-month debt deferral period expired in June. The Kenyan government had hoped to be able to extend that through the end of the year but Chinese creditors, namely the China Exim Bank, did not like that idea at all. Apparently, things got so bad that Chinese creditors halted disbursements for projects that are underway right now in Kenya.... bringing construction to a halt in some cases. Kenya's Foreign exchange reserves dropped by

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01:14:07

China's Role in Re-Energizing the South Sudan Peace...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/07/30

South Sudan marked its tenth anniversary this month as an independent country. Regrettably, though, after a decade of civil war and divided government that has left at least 400,000 people dead and displaced a third of the population, there isn't much to celebrate. From the beginning, China's played an important role in South Sudan, from the creation of the country to playing a lead mediation role in the peace process to being the only major power with combat troops on the ground operating under UN

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01:06:31

Welcome to the New Era of China-Africa Relations

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/07/23

China's apparent decision to bail on financing the $2.8 billion AKK pipeline in Nigeria is the latest evidence that Beijing's strategy to engage the continent has changed, a lot. This pipeline is now the third major project in Nigeria this year that Chinese financiers have walked away from. And it's happening elsewhere too. In Zimbabwe, China's largest bank, ICBC, bailed on the $3 billion Sengwa coal-fired power plant. This is a trend that's been underway for quite some time as Chinese

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48:45

Tanzania Resumes Talks With China Over the Bagamoyo...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/07/14

Tanzanian President Samia Hassan surprised a lot of people last month when she announced that talks with China had resumed over the controversial Bagamoyo port deal. This is the deal that President Hassan's predecessor, the late John Magufuli, famously halted back in 2019 when he said only a "drunkard" would accept the terms put forth by China Merchant Holdings International. Things have changed a lot since then and apparently, even Chinese President Xi Jinping is now open to the idea of restarting

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54:39

When It Comes to China, Africa and Central Asia Have...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/07/02

It's not obvious, but when it comes to managing ties with China, countries in Central Asia and Africa have a lot more in common with one another than many would first assume. Both are among China's smallest trading partners that rely primarily on oil and other commodity exports. Countries in both regions have taken on quite a bit of Chinese debt to build infrastructure and both areas have complex civil society ties with China. And both Africa and Central are now important outposts along China's

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01:05:54

The Diplomat's Shannon Tiezzi on China and the Global...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/06/30

While China's ties with Europe, the U.S., Japan, and other wealthy northern countries steadily worsen, Beijing is leaning harder on its relations with states in the Global South. The importance of those ties was on full display over the past week on a range of issues, everything from Xinjiang to online governance to infrastructure. Shannon Tiezzi, editor in chief of the Asia-Pacific news website The Diplomat and a well-known China-watcher, joins Eric & Cobus for a wide-ranging discussion on current

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58:07

DRC Wants to Renegotiate Chinese Mining Deals. It...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/06/23

DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi last month traveled to the country's mining heartland in Upper Katanga to personally tell everyone that he's had enough of business as usual and that he plans to renegotiate unfair foreign mining contracts. While he didn't call out the Chinese by name, everyone knew that's precisely who was referring to given that 30 out of the 40 foreign mining companies operating in mineral-rich province are Chinese-affiliated. But it's not going to be easy for the President to

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01:09:57

An Update on Chinese Lending in Africa (It's Not Good...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/06/18

This week's launch of the new Lagos to Ibadan Standard Gauge Railway may be the last time for a long while that a big multibillion dollars infrastructure project like this is built in Africa using Chinese loans. Chinese development finance lending in Africa and elsewhere throughout the Global South has cratered in recent years and it appears that Beijing has, at least for now, lost interest in loaning vast sums of money to poor countries to build infrastructure. To be sure, Chinese creditors are

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50:43

Chinese Entertainment is Finding New Audiences in Africa

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/06/16

Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee kung fu movies have long been popular in Africa. Now, however, Chinese entertainment content is expanding beyond martial arts to include sports and even soap operas. Chinese television dramas are now starting to find audiences in Africa and the Middle East thanks in part to the growing popularity of the pay-TV service StarTimes that dubs programs into dozens of African languages and tech companies like iQiyi that now Arabic language packages. Even the nascent Chinese Super

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43:55

Chinese Cyber Sovereignty & Nigeria's #Twitterban

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/06/11

The Nigerian government justified the banning of Twitter on the basis of protecting the country's national interest, security, and sovereignty. Although the move was done for purely domestic political reasons, the government's defense is strikingly similar to the language that China pioneered more than a decade ago when it first introduced its "Cyber Sovereignty" model for internet governance. It shouldn't come as a surprise, though, that Nigeria may be following China's example by making the state

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43:20

Why Huawei's Much Ridiculed New OS Could Still Have a...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/06/04

Huawei officially launched HarmonyOS this week, its new mobile operating system. The company was forced to build its own in-house OS after the Trump administration banned it from accessing key U.S. technologies including Alphabet's Android. While Harmony is widely derided, even ridiculed among the U.S. and European tech press (described as the "fake it till you make it" OS), there may be a market for it in Global South countries. First, it'll allow Huawei to get back in the mobile phone market in

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57:28

China Moves Ahead With Vaccine Distribution While...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/06/01

By now, COVAX, the global vaccine alliance should have shipped almost a quarter of a billion doses to the world's poorest countries. That hasn't happened. In fact, the alliance has distributed just 72 million jabs, a tiny fraction of what's needed. Similarly, the United States has faltered in its efforts to send excess vaccines overseas now that inoculation rates at home are beginning to slow. This is leaving a huge opening for China to expand its already sizable vaccine distribution drive to places

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