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Malawian Farmers Need More Than Just Training to Boost Crop Yields

Drive 35km south from Salima town, in the central region of Malawi you will see a signpost on the side of the road that reads “China Aid Malawi Agriculture Technology Development Centre”. And then you drive another 500 meters from ...

China Says “Mission Accomplished” in COVID-19 Fight and Wants African Countries to Follow its Example

The Chinese propaganda machine in Africa is cranked all the way up. Newspapers, radio, TV, Twitter, Facebook, you name it, the Chinese are there with a big bold message: "WE DEFEATED COVID-19! WE'RE HELPING AFRICA! NOW SUCK IT AMERICA!" OK, that's somewhat interpretive, but you get the ...

Chinese Pay-TV Operator StarTimes’ New App Will Help You Determine if You’re Infected With COVID-19

Chinese-owned African pay-TV giant StarTimes launched a new service on its StarTimes ON platform that is intended to help users determine if they are infected with COVID-19. Think of this as a sort of pre-diagnosis. ...

David Ndii: “Coronavirus Will be the Final Nail in the Coffin of “Infrastructure-led Growth”

Economist David Ndii, one of Kenya's leading political economy thinkers, a popular columnist and a longtime critic of the government's policy of borrowing heavily from China to build infrastructure, conducted a fascinating hour-long interview with Kenyan philosopher Joseph Kabuthi ...

China Adds Paid Media to its Already Formidable Propaganda Arsenal in Africa

China added yet another channel to its propaganda media distribution network in Africa with paid editorial content in South Africa's leading financial newspaper Business Day. While paid Chinese editorial inserts are nothing new around the world (China Daily famously pays the New York Times, ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Revealing Reactions to China’s Festival of Optics

In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...

With an Eye on China, South Africa Keeps Ports and Fishing Industry Open During Lockdown

While most South Africans are required to stay indoors during the ongoing 21-day lockdown to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, fishermen and dock-workers are still on the job. Both the seafood industry and the country's ports were deemed vital to the national economy and permitted to ...

Ambassador Lin Songtian’s Recall Signals Shifts Ahead in China-Africa Relationship

The sudden recall from South Africa of Chinese ambassador Lin Songtian was initially interpreted as being a demotion. But the contrary appears to be true – it now looks as though his deft use of Twitter has propelled him into another role: A combatant in the growing ...