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Day: September 14, 2021

Which Way is West?

One of the fun aspects of the China-Africa Project is that we don’t always agree. The work of pulling in different perspectives means that how we see reality is itself a negotiation, drawing on our different backgrounds. For example, one of the issues where Eric and I ...

Why Food Security & Agriculture Issues Need to Be Atop the China-Africa Agenda

A growing number of people in Africa are facing acute shortages of food due in part to disruptions brought on by COVID, climate change, and, in some countries, conflict. Solving the problem today is not going to be easy given how ...

Police Use Force to Disburse Anti-Chinese Protests in the Eastern DR Congo

Police fired tear gas on Monday to disperse hundreds of protestors demonstrating against a Chinese-owned gold mine in the small South Kivu town of Kitutu in the far eastern DR Congo province of South Kivu (map).  The demonstrators are ...

The Documentary at the Center of Mounting Congolese Frustration Towards Chinese Mining Companies

One of the key factors behind the recent escalation in tensions between local residents in the eastern DRC and Chinese mining companies can be attributed to the widely-seen investigative television report by Cameroonian journalist Alain Foka. The provocatively ...

China’s Most Aggressive Foreign Ministry Spokesman Delicately Brushes Back Criticisms of Chinese Mining Companies in the DRC

The DR Congo government's move to review some of the multi-billion Chinese mining contracts surfaced as a topic on Monday at the Foreign Ministry's regular press briefing in Beijing where the often outspoken, sharp-tongued spokesman Zhao Lijian delicately addressed the issue.

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Ghana Commissions First Roads Built Under Controversial Bauxite Deal

Ghana’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia this week commissioned the first road infrastructure built under a controversial $2 billion resource-for-infrastructure deal with the Chinese conglomerate Sinohydro. 

Bawumia was eager to claim the inauguration of 441 km of roads in the Cape Coast region as a win for his government, which has faced major economic headwinds over the last few months. It also papered over the fact that the project faced criticism for delayed implementation following the signing ...

Namibian Opposition Leader: “Chinese Must Respect Us”

Tensions between Chinese companies and local labor unions have been simmering all year and now it appears the issue is escalating into a charged political attack against the government for not doing enough to protect worker rights. "People are ...

Zimbabwe Now the Largest Recipient of Chinese Vaccines in Sub-Saharan Africa

With more than 10 million doses of vaccines delivered to date, Zimbabwe is now the largest recipient of Chinese-made vaccines in Sub-Saharan Africa and second only to Morocco (22.5 million) on the continent as a whole.  Aside from the vaccine delivery ...

China Isn’t Just Shipping Vaccines to Zimbabwe, It’s Also Building Warehouses to Store Them

A new Twitter account popped up recently, intended to provide updates on a new China Aid-funded vaccine warehouse now under construction in the Zimbabwe capital Harare. You can follow the progress of the new warehouse on Twitter at