Month: March 2021
Related Posts
Why Would Burundi Endorse China’s Controversial New Election Law in Hong Kong?
The small landlocked East African country of Burundi reportedly felt so strongly about China's controversial new election law for Hong Kong that it published an enthusiastic endorsement of the legislation and praised Beijing's "wisdom to ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong ...
Asia, Not Africa, Will Soon be Awash in COVID-19 Vaccines Thanks to China’s Worsening Ties With Rivals
Leaders of the four-nation Indo-Pacific coalition known as "the Quad" (short for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) announced a new initiative after a virtual summit on Friday to distribute one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to countries in Asia, predominantly in the ASEAN region.
Second Batch of Chinese Vaccines to Arrive Today in Zimbabwe
A chartered Air Zimbabwe flight is scheduled to land at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare with the second batch of Chinese-made vaccines. The fact that Ambassador Gao Shaochun mentioned in a Tweet that the new jabs have been procured from China indicates that this latest shipment ...
China Donates Vaccines to UN Peacekeepers and International Olympic Committee
China will donate COVID-19 vaccines to the United Nations for use by peacekeepers stationed around the world, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at the regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday. Zhao did not mention how many doses would be offered or when they ...
With a Reference to Africa, Comedian Bill Maher Warns Fellow Americans “We’ve Lost” to China
U.S. comedian and political commentator Bill Maher issued a scathing indictment of the U.S. and failure to keep pace with China in the 21st Century. "We're not losing," he said on his show Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, "we've lost." He referenced the BRI and ...
China’s “Global Public Good” Vaccine Pledge Misses the Mark
No one was really sure what to expect from President Xi Jinping's pledge last May to make Chinese COVID-19 vaccines a "global public good." In typical Chinese fashion, there was no explanation of what he meant, instead, Chinese officials for months just kept repeating "
The Reality of Educational Soft Power
Last week was a bloody one in Johannesburg. Wits University, where I used to teach and where I’m currently an affiliate, has seen weeks of student protests. On Wednesday, a standoff turned violent. As the police opened fire with rubber bullets, a bystander stepped out of a ...
Diversity and Representation in the China Watching Space
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the Black China Caucus (BCC), an organization set up to foster a more inclusive discussion about China. BCC was founded by a group of Black China professionals in the United States with a range ...
Will Chinese-Made COVID-19 Vaccines Find Acceptance in Nigeria?
It is widely accepted that vaccination is one of the most important achievements in public health. Yet, in the face of this ‘consensus’, vaccines are constantly challenged by individuals and groups on religious, and even political grounds. The determinants around vaccine ...
Two Fascinating Documentaries on How Chinese Money is Changing Africa
Free Documentary, the independent documentary film distributor, published a pair of very interesting programs on YouTube that explore how Chinese money is changing Africa. The two films were both produced by the South African production house Sabido Productions and do a very good job at representing both ...
China’s Transsion Holds Firm to the Top Spot in Africa’s Smartphone Market
Transsion's dominance of the African mobile phone market remains fully intact despite last year's major economic disruption brought on by the pandemic, according to new data released by the research firm IDC. Transsion's suite of brands (Tecno, Infinix, and Itel) has a commanding 48.2% ...
China’s Massive New Data Trunk Line Linking Asia, Africa, and Europe is Nearing Completion
A consortium of Chinese companies is nearing completion of the 12,000-kilometer PEACE cable (Pakistan East Africa Connecting to Europe) that will deliver badly-needed bandwidth to large swathes of Africa. The capacity of the undersea cable is so large, in fact, that it can transport 90,000 hours of ...