Month: September 2020
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From Politics to Tech: Lessons on China-Africa Engagement
Two podcasts of note this month, one about politics and the other focused on tech, provide some excellent insights on two very different aspects of Sino-African engagement. CSIS' INSIDE AFRICA PODCAST: "China's footprint in Africa extends beyond infrastructure projects and ...
New TV Ad Controversy With Anti-Black Racial Overtones Erupts
Star Wars star John Boyega resigned from his role as spokesperson for Jo Malone today after the British perfume brand replaced him with Liu Haoran, a popular Chinese actor, for the version of their TV commercial that was aired in Mainland China.
Africa’s Major Economies Sinking Under the Weight of Surging Debt, Reduced Trade, and Massive New Social Welfare Costs
The economic fundamentals in a growing number of Africa's major economies are showing signs of rapid deterioration amid the ongoing economic crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Seemingly every week there's a new downgrade, analyst warning, or economic indicator that points to an increasingly dire situation ...
China’s New Ambassador to Kenya Makes the Rounds
Given China's extensive involvement in building transportation infrastructure in Kenya, it's not surprising that Chief Secretary James Macharia was high on the list of key cabinet stakeholders to meet, as the newly-arrived Chinese ambassador, Zhou Pingjiang, settles into his new role. ...
The Chinese Embassy in Harare Responds to Zimbabwe’s National Park Mining Ban
The Chinese embassy in Harare responded late last week to the Zimbabwean government's surprise decision to ban all mining activities in the country's five national parks and in most river beds. Although Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa did not mention China by name when announcing the ...
A New China-Ethiopia Venture is Now Producing COVID-19 Test Kits
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed toured a new Chinese-Ethiopian joint venture on Sunday that will be able to produce up to 10 million COVID-19 test kits per year. The new test kits will be used to help mitigate the spread of the virus domestically and will ...
More Unsubstantiated Reports of Chinese Troop Deployments to Africa
Longstanding fears of Chinese troop deployments to Namibia resurfaced last week when a legislator claimed, without evidence, that 3,500 Chinese soldiers are currently in the country. Defense Minister Peter Hafeni Vilho didn't help matters when he refused to comment on the ...
Chinese Port-building Along the BRI: “There’s a Lot More Than Meets the Eye”
Daniel R. Russel and Blake Berger, two scholars at the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute, have published a new report that looks at the broad security implications of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Although Chinese officials have long maintained that ...
Taiwan’s New Rep Office in Somaliland Opens Twitter Account
If you'd like to follow what's going on at Taiwan's newly-opened representative office in the Horn of Africa in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared state of Somaliland, you can do so on their equally new Twitter account. Follow "Taiwan In Somaliland" ...
Developing Countries Have Had Enough of the U.S.-China Feud
The prevailing narrative among large swathes of the conservative media in the United States is that Washington and Beijing are now engaged in a new "Cold War." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in fact, suggests that the current confrontation with China is actually even ...
Rethinking China’s Participation in African Agricultural Development in the Post-COVID-19 Era
This article was co-authored by Duncan Chando, a Nairobi-based international development consultant Africa was already facing food insecurity and agricultural underdevelopment prior to COVID-19. In 2018 studies showed that Sub-Saharan Africa was the world’s most food-insecure region, hosting 239 million ...
China-Africa Trade Update with Walter Ruigu
Two-way China-Africa trade fell sharply in the first half of the year to $82 billion, down 20% from the same time last year. Trade between the two regions has been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ...