x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

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

42:38

Uganda Wants to Make It Big in China's Booming Coffee...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/05/28

Uganda, like many African countries, suffers from an enormous trade deficit with China. Last year, according to UN figures, Uganda exported just $40 million worth of goods to China but imported more than $1.3 billion in return. The government in Kampala knows this is not sustainable in the long run and is now taking measures to address the problem by leveraging one of its most valuable exports: coffee. Uganda is looking to China to help quintuple the volume of coffee exports over the next five

en

59:11

Understanding China's Outlook on Global Aid &...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/05/26

The Chinese approach to global aid and development is very different than that of traditional donors in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. While Beijing is leveraging much of the existing global development infrastructure, including organizations like the IMF, the WHO, and the UN among others, they're bringing a very different philosophy in how aid is administered in developing countries. And just as in other areas of China's geopolitical engagement with the international community, their approach to aid

en

55:31

China's Role in the African Infrastructure Financing...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/05/21

African infrastructure financing is facing a crisis. Financing levels have plunged from $100 billion a year in 2014 to just $31 billion last year, according to a new report published by the international law firm Baker McKenzie. This is a massive setback for the continent that's been working hard to fill a gaping infrastructure deficit the AfDB conservatively estimates is valued somewhere around a trillion dollars over ten years. And the situation has been made worse by the dramatic pullback in

en

55:56

What Should Be on the China-Africa Environmental Agenda?

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/05/14

Environmental issues once featured prominently on the China-Africa agenda where leaders on both sides focused on the wildlife trade, conservation, and a wide range of sustainability issues. Not any more. Today, it's all about access to COVID-19, trade, and the U.S.-China face-off. African leaders, for their part, are not prioritizing critical environmental issues in talks with their Chinese counterparts and, once again, it looks like sustainability will not be a key focus of the upcoming Forum on

en

58:43

Why the New China-Iran Agreement Isn't a Big Deal

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/05/07

Depending on who you speak with, the 25-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) agreement between China and Iran either marks the emergence of a new "axis of evil" that's going to overturn the balance of power in the Middle East or it's just a lot of vague promises that are largely aspirational with no firm commitments. The truth is that no one outside of the participants themselves actually knows what it's in the agreement because it hasn't been made public and probably will never be

en

01:05:48

China and the Rapidly Changing Security Dynamics in...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/05/04

A pair of recent Congressional hearings revealed the heightened anxiety in Washington about China's expanding presence in the Middle East and North Africa. Both lawmakers and Pentagon officials appear increasingly concerned that China's rapidly expanding economic, security, and diplomatic presence in the region will all come at the expense of the United States. Fudan University international relations scholar Andrea Ghiselli agrees... well, sort of. In a new paper published in the journal Rusi and a

en

01:00:46

The Pushback Against China's Coercive Diplomacy

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/30

Although China has successfully leveraged its strengths in COVID-19 vaccine production to replenish its reservoir of goodwill in many developing countries, elsewhere Beijing is facing growing resistance to its increasingly assertive foreign policy agenda. The U.S. is mobilizing friends and allies to build large coalitions designed to confront China. In Asia, Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea polarize many of its neighbors and in Africa and the Americas civil society groups are

en

01:01:54

Debunking Myths About Chinese Labor in Africa

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/28

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comments this week that suggested China imports labor to work on infrastructure projects highlights the incredible durability of one of the oldest myths about Chinese engagement. The reality is there's been a steady decline in the number of Chinese workers over the years and that the overwhelming majority of laborers on Chinese-run construction projects are locally hired. Ding Fei, a postdoctoral research associate at the Arizona State University, is among a

en

46:57

A New China-Africa Think Tank Aims to Fill a Big Void

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/23

While Africa is home to a number of world-class think tanks, very few have deep expertise in China and Asian affairs more broadly. This week, a group of young scholars launched the Afro-Sino Centre for International Relations in Ghana in an effort to help fill that void and provide China-Africa analysis from a distinctly African perspective. AfSCIR Co-Founder and Executive Director Pamela Carslake joins Eric & Cobus from Accra to discuss her new organization and how it plans to go about getting its

en

01:09:08

The U.S.'s Blue Dot Network vs. China's Belt & Road...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/20

In the run-up to last Friday's U.S.-Japan summit at the White House, there had been a lot of talk that President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga would announce a new initiative to challenge China's Belt and Road Initiative. In the end, it turned out that the two leaders did not address infrastructure development in their summit's joint statement but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of enthusiasm in both Washington and Tokyo to come up with a way to stem China's lead in building

en

50:38

How Chinese Business Practices Are Disrupting the...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/16

Chinese seafood buyers are reportedly cutting out Kenyan middlemen and working directly with local fishermen for lobsters and other fish products, according to a report in the East African newspaper. Fishermen, for their part, aren't complaining. They're getting to work directly with customers wh provide access to an enormous consumer market back in Asia. But those agents and other middlemen who for years sat in between Chinese buyers and the local fishing communities are now being pushed aside. The

en

01:06:48

Deals, Deals & More Deals. China's Tech Giants Expand...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/13

2021 has been a busy year so far for China's technology giants as they look to expand their international operations and appear to have their sites set on expanding in both the African and Arabian markets. JD, Didi, iQiyi, and Tencent are among those who've all made announcements in the past few weeks. Tech journalist Alexandria Williams closely follows Chinese e-commerce and technology companies from Nairobi where she's now writing a weekly Tech Digest column for The China Africa Project

en

50:32

India, Africa and the U.S.-China Rivalry

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/09

The United States government is stepping up its effort to mobilize its friends and allies to challenge China's growing influence across large swathes of the Global South. While Southeast Asia is the primary front in this burgeoning rivalry, Africa and the Americas are also emerging as important regional theaters. India is playing a central role in all of this. As a founding member of the Quad, the four-country coalition that also includes the U.S., Japan and Australia, New Delhi aims to challenge

en

01:19:19

How China Lends: A Landmark Report on Chinese Loan...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/07

A groundbreaking new analysis by researchers in the United States and Germany provides an unprecedented look inside the contracts that China uses to lend billions of dollars to developing countries around the world. The new report, "How China Lends," was joint effort by scholars at AidData at William & Mary College, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany, the Center for Global Development and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. What they found is that

en

58:46

China Wants to Be a Big Player in the Middle East

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/04/02

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's latest six-nation tour of the Middle East and Turkey revealed that Beijing now aims to play a much larger role in the region. During his trip, Wang signed a high-profile strategic cooperation agreement with Iran, announced a major vaccine production deal with the United Arab Emirates, and brought China's message on Xinjiang to Saudi Arabia, home of Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. Zayed University Assistant Professor and Atlantic Council Senior Fellow

en

01:03:18

China's Rapidly Evolving Lending Practices in Africa...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/03/30

It wasn't that long ago when China lent tens of billions of dollars to developing countries in Africa and the Americas to build vast amounts of badly-needed infrastructure. Now, it appears, those days are over. Concerns over debt sustainability, corruption, and poor planning have all led to a dramatic fall-off in Chinese lending in those regions. Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, and Kevin Gallager, head of the Global Development Policy

en

01:06:35

Chinese Perspectives on Anti-Black Racism in China

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/03/26

A series of high-profile recent incidents including the use of blackface on Chinese TV, discrimination against Black residents in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, and widespread racial insensitivity on Chinese social media sites like Weibo have sparked a vibrant discussion about anti-Black racism in China. While these conversations have done a lot to advance our collective understanding of the complexities of this issue, too often, though, Chinese voices are under-represented in the

en

54:11

The Politics of Chinese Vaccine Distribution in Africa

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/03/24

The Chinese government insists that politics play no part in its rapidly expanding global vaccine distribution campaign. But when you look at the maps as to where Chinese vaccine sales and donations are heaviest, it just so happens to be in regions that are among the most strategically important to Beijing: Southeast Asia, the Persian Gulf, and South America. Rosie Wigmore in Beijing and Ovigwe Eguegu in Abuja, both policy analysts for the Beijing-based consultancy Development Reimagined, have been

en

55:49

Update on the Current State of China-Zambia Relations

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/03/19

The recent visit to Zambia by China's top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi highlights the outsized importance Lusaka plays in Beijing's broader Africa strategy. Relations between the countries are among China's oldest on the continent, dating back to the anti-colonial struggles of the 1960s. Today, ideology has given way to economics. Zambia is a key supplier of copper and iron ore while China is Lusaka's largest bilateral creditor. Emmanuel Matambo, a native-Zambian and research director at the

en

59:39

How Smaller Countries Can Negotiate More Effectively...

The China in Africa Podcast ·

2021/03/17

China's enormous size affords it tremendous advantages in its relations with smaller countries, particularly developing states in the global south. Beijing regularly leverages its huge economy, growing military power, and diplomatic muscle in international organizations to both cajole and even coerce other countries in pursuit of its own interests. China's behavior towards smaller states is by no means exceptional. In fact, it's quite standard among the world's major powers. The more pressing

en

434 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS News

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci