Day: May 4, 2020
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Potential China-Africa Collaboration on Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Agri-Food Systems
Agriculture and food systems are a concept that aims at breaking down silos between the agriculture value chain, health, nutrition, and environmental sustainability. Agri-food systems are essential in managing and preserving biodiversity, adapting to and tackling climate change, realizing sustainable food systems, and achieving the Sustainable Development ...
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The Back Rooms in Johannesburg’s Chinatown
South Africa is home to the largest and one of the oldest Chinese diaspora populations in Africa, dating back hundreds of years. Although there are no precise figures, the ethnic Chinese population in the country is estimated to be at least ...
Reuters: Bondholders to Reject Zambia’s Request for Debt Repayment Delay
A source close to the Zambia External Bondholder Committee, a coalition that holds the bulk of Zambia's $3 billion of Eurobonds, told Reuters that investors plan to vote against the government's request for a six-month repayment delay when the group convenes on November 13th.
Africa in the New Era of Great Power Competition Among Europe, China, and the United States
Regardless of who comes out ahead in Tuesday's presidential election in the United States, the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy on the continent will likely not change dramatically and continue to focus on confronting rising Chinese and Russian influence in the region.
Two Totally Different Reactions From the U.S. and China About Tanzania’s Recent Elections
The United States and China have issued starkly different assessments of last week's presidential elections in Tanzania. Incumbent John Magufuli declared victory with 84% of the vote, with some international observers reporting instances of fraud and voter intimidation.
China Takes Its Messaging on Xinjiang to Nigeria, the World’s 5th Largest Muslim Country
China appears to be increasingly confident about promoting its position on Xinjiang in countries that have large Muslim populations, like Nigeria. The Chinese embassy in Abuja on Tuesday posted criticism of U.S. and European accusations that Beijing is persecuting its Uyghur minority population.
The Joy and Pain of Developing Kenya’s Specialty Tea Production
Tea farmers in Kenya’s central highlands say Chinese interest in their tea is improving their income, but the journey for Chinese tea enthusiast and founder of the Chinya Tea Development Company Lewis Gao has not been easy. He came to Kenya ...
How China’s Evolving Energy Mix Will Impact Its Foreign Policy in Africa
Since 2008, China has been gradually shifting its oil procurement strategy away from Africa towards producers in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Today, Angola is the only African country in China's list of top ten suppliers. Security is ...
Africa to G20 Members: Pay a Little Now or Pay a Lot Later
When things fall apart no one will be able to say they didn't see it coming. Last year, when we spoke with Ghananian conservationist Kofi Agbogah, executive director of the NGO Hεn Mpoano, for the ...
China’s New Ambassador to Kenya Will Face Many of the Same Challenges He Encountered in Nigeria
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta received credentials from six new envoys on Wednesday including China's Zhou Pingjian. The new Chinese ambassador replaced Wu Peng who recently returned to Beijing to become the Foreign Ministry's top diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa. ...
Morocco Isn’t Going to Rely Only on China For a COVID-19 Vaccine
With more than 65,000 COVID-19 infections, Morocco is one of Africa's major hot spots in the ongoing pandemic, so it's not surprising that the government is moving quickly to position the country as a vaccine hub. Rabat is ...
Cobus van Staden Has a Warning For Rich Countries: Either You Pay Now to Help Africa With COVID-19 or You Will Pay Later
Cobus van Staden, the senior China-Africa researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg and co-founder of The China Global South Project, published a sharply-worded commentary that condemned the international community's response to the COVID-19 as "woefully naive."
Forget About Oil, Cobalt is the Resource of the Future
Strong demand for electric vehicles in China and Europe is expected to bolster the output of cobalt and copper in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's mining sector. Today, the DRC is the Saudi Arabia or cobalt. 60-70% of the world's cobalt originates there and China is ...
Heather Li Introduces You to Some of China’s Most Dynamic Young African Entrepreneurs
Heather Li is the bubbly, always smiling, endlessly energetic force of nature behind the Shanghai-based Dot Connector, a PR/marketing initiative focused on African tech start-ups and entrepreneurs in China. She's kicked off a new video series where she interviews young Africans ...
A European Perspective on China’s Expanding Military Ties in West Africa
Tom Bayes, a researcher at the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation in Berlin joins Eric & Cobus to discuss his new paper that explores the implications for Europe of China's expanding military role in West Africa. Show Notes: ...
Transport Minister Pushes Back Against Accusations that Chinese Loans Compromise Nigeria’s Sovereignty
Nigeria's Transportation Minister Chibuike Amaechi went on national television in an effort to tamp down the controversy erupting over whether Chinese loans will compromise the country's sovereignty. The issue surfaced last week when the Chairman of the House Committee on Treaties, ...
Sovereign Immunity Controversy in Nigeria Sparks Media Panic About Chinese “Debt Traps”
For much of the past week, Nigerian news outlets across the spectrum have published a series of alarming stories claiming that the country's sovereignty is now jeopardized by its various infrastructure loans, specifically on account of the standard sovereign immunity clauses in the loan agreements.
Charter Flight Evacuates Chinese Nationals From Kenya
News quickly spread that a "mass exodus" of Chinese nationals was underway at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. The Chinese were "fleeing" the country, according to the meme that was prevalent in both the news media and on social media ...
Top U.S. Diplomat for Africa: “China Gets the Chutzpah of the Year Award For Their Pretend Response on COVID”
Two top U.S. officials responsible for Africa policy testified last week before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa regarding the worsening COVID-19 pandemic on the continent and how the outbreak will impact U.S. foreign policy in the region. U.S. Assistant ...
A Congressman’s Seething Resentment of the Chinese and Their Presence in Africa
As he left the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing last Thursday, Tennessee Republican Representative Tim Burchett recorded a short two-minute video on Twitter to reflect on the session and to express his anger towards the Chinese in general and specifically Beijing's presence in Africa.
African Countries Want to Keep Their Options Open Regarding Huawei, Maintaining a Position of “Deliberate Ambiguity”
A new map of the world produced by one of Washington's leading China analysts, Scott Kennedy from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, breaks down the world according to how each country views Huawei. Not surprisingly, the ...
The Global Ratings Agency Fitch Issued a New Note on Private Sector Debt and It’s Not Good News for Poor Countries
Poor countries, including many in Africa, are increasingly in a debt trap... not to the Chinese but private creditors. One of the world's big three credit ratings agencies, Fitch Ratings, issued a new report on Friday that clearly states if a country seeks any kind of debt ...
A Slick New Documentary Goes Full “Wolf Warrior” to Showcase China’s Blue Helmets in South Sudan
A trailer dropped this weekend for "Blue Defensive Line" (蓝色防线), a new documentary about Chinese United Nations peacekeeping troops in South Sudan that will air on the CCTV6 movie channel. It's interesting that the producers featured a soundbite in the trailer ...
A China-Africa “Wish List”
With China-U.S. ties rapidly deteriorating, the South China Morning Post's "China Briefing" columnist Wang Xiangwei mused in his latest article on Saturday what Beijing could do to resuscitate its tattered international reputation as it embarks on a new era in its relationship with Washington.
A CFR Virtual Conference on China’s Growing Footprint in Africa
The Council on Foreign Relations in New York organized a virtual conference this week to discuss U.S. perspectives on "China's Growing Footprint in Africa." The first part of the discussion focused largely on comparing/contrasting U.S. and Chinese economic development strategies on the continent ...
African Leaders Plead For Faster Debt Relief at International Summit
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta used his opening speech at a virtual leaders summit of the Organization of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) to plead for more debt relief, particularly for the world's poorest countries. "The debt of many member states continues to rise. ...
Once Angola Renegotiates its Debts, There May Not be Much Money Left Over For Anything Else
Nathan Hayes, an Africa analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, highlights Angola's dilemma in the ongoing talks to restructure its debts. With the price of oil so low due to the global economic slowdown brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak, pretty much the only choice ...
China Says It’ll Work With Angola on G20 Debt Relief, But Remains Vague About Status of Bilateral Loans
The Chinese government on Wednesday reaffirmed its position that it will cooperate with the G20's ongoing debt relief initiative in Africa but refused to provide any specific details about how Beijing plans to reschedule its vast loan portfolio in Africa, specifically in Angola.
Why China’s “Blame the West” Strategy for Any Negative News Coverage in Africa is Counterproductive
The enormous amounts of negative news coverage about China's relationship with Africa that followed the dramatic events in Guangzhou back in April and, more recently, the spread of COVID-19 on the continent, has led to a new consensus among Chinese stakeholders as to who, precisely, is responsible. ...
Chinese Miltary Donates COVID-19 Supplies to the Rwandan Military
A Chinese People's Liberation Army cargo plane landed Wednesday to deliver $300,000 worth of COVID-19 PPE and other medical supplies. The PLA donated the material to their counterparts in the Rwandan Defense Force. It's not clear from the statement on the ...
There are Chinese Racists and There are Chinese Global Citizens
Let’s admit right up front that there are racists in China and let’s not pretend there wasn’t racial discrimination against Africans in Guangzhou --- although recent events there were much more than just an outright expression of discrimination against Africans and black people: it was also a ...
Is a Chinese-funded Aquaculture Technology Demonstration Center in South Africa a Ghost Ship?
In 2006, the Chinese government began a program of delivering agricultural aid to Africa through establishing Agriculture Technology Demonstrations Centers (ATDC), aimed at stimulating local development and also promote Chinese commercial and diplomatic interests in Africa. Some of these ATDCs have been beneficial, but many others are ...
The #WuhanShake Makes it to Africa
The "Wuhan Shake" that's been trending on Twitter for the past few days has made its way from China all the way to the State House in Tanzania. After talks with National Convention for Construction and Reform leader Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad, rather than the customary handshake or embrace ...
This Week’s Viral Video of Two Chinese People Being Harassed in Kenya Sparks an Unusual Response on Twitter: Sympathy
A longer 30-second version of the viral video of two Chinese nationals being verbally accosted by a group of Kenyan men shouting "you're corona!" started to circulate on Twitter yesterday and provoked an unexpected response from Kenyan social media users... kindness and sympathy.
With No End in Sight, Livelihoods in Kenya Now at Risk Due to COVID-19 Trade Crisis
With China's factories and ports still struggling to get back up to speed, the massive disruptions to the global supply chain are being felt disproportionately among small-to-medium-sized enterprises in countries like Kenya. Inventories are running so low now in a rapidly ...
It’s Official: South Africa Is in Recession and COVID-19 Is Making Things Much Worse
The South African government confirmed what investors had long suspected: the economy slipped into recession at the end of last year. New GDP data released on Tuesday by Stats SA reveals the economy is officially in recession and growing at the slowest rate since the financial crisis ...
While South Africans Prepare to Evacuate, China’s Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe Tells Anxious Parents It’s Better Their Kids Remain in Wuhan
China's Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhao Baogang, convened a meeting with the parents of students currently stuck in Wuhan at the embassy in Harare on Tuesday. Amid reports of dwindling food supplies and worsening mental health conditions confronting many of the students under quarantine, the parents are ...
“Evacuation Details Under Wraps so We Can’t Spill It to the Media”
The 151 South Africans who have signed up to be evacuated from Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, are anxiously awaiting details about when the operation will take place. At present, they don't even have basic information, for example when they're expected to be at the ...
Tweet of the Day: Fear That Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport Will Become a Coronavirus Hub
Kenya native Aly-Khan Satchu is the CEO of Nairobi-based investment advisory firm Rich Management Ltd and a popular commentator on African economic and political issues. On Twitter, Satchu has more than ...
Pressure Mounts on Ethiopian Airlines to Halt Flights to China
Ethiopian Airlines appears to be stubbornly holding on to its flight operations between China and Addis Ababa, while almost all other African carriers have halted flights to China due to the spiraling coronavirus epidemic. Ethiopian Airlines is Africa's largest airline, operating daily flights to five Chinese cities, ...
Reflections on a Week in Washington
I'm on my way back to Asia after having spent a fascinating week in Washington, D.C. meeting with key stakeholders in government, think tanks and NGOs who are all engaged in U.S. foreign policy towards both China and Africa. Everyone was so gracious with their time and ...
Rebuttal: Clarifying the U.S. Policy Approach Towards Africa
Editor's Note: A number of current and former United States government officials took issue with many of the points that I raised in my recent column on U.S. foreign policy towards Africa ("China's role in Washington's divided, confusing foreign policy towards Africa") and disagreed vehemently both ...
Ren Hanjun, a visiting professor at Peking University, posted a commentary on WeChat that was shared tens of thousands times entitled "Wars are easy to start, difficult to end."
The following is a transcript of a commentary posted on WeChat by Ren Hanjun, a visiting professor at a Peking University think tank who also posts video commentaries on international affairs on his WeChat channel 老任财富故事会 (Lao Ren’s Wealth Stories). This particular post about the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran went viral ...
There are Chinese Racists and There are Chinese Global Citizens
Let’s admit right up front that there are racists in China and let’s not pretend there wasn’t racial discrimination against Africans in Guangzhou --- although recent events there were much more than just an outright expression of discrimination against Africans and black people: it was also a ...