Félix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, left for a trip to Beijing last week amid sky-high expectations of both new deals and the significant reworking of current agreements widely seen in his country as favoring Chinese actors. None of this happened.
Instead, he returned with a fistful of non-binding MoUs to widespread dissatisfaction back home. Since then, DRC officials have worked overtime to try and spin the trip as a longer-term ...
Day: November 4, 2021
Young Djiboutian China Expert Uses Twitter to Try and Get the Finance Minister’s Attention For a Job
When Djibouti Finance Minister Ilyas Dawaleh tweeted this week about a meeting with Chinese ambassador Hu Bin to discuss the upcoming FOCAC summit, Charmarke Abdoulkader Hadji thought this might be a good way to get the minister's attention and ask for a job. ...
Ghanaian Mall Owner Explains Why They Put Giant Boulders in Front of a Neighboring China Mall
The owners of the West Hills shopping mall in southern Ghana who dumped huge boulders in front of the China Mall next door explained that they did so to stop the neighboring shopping center from expanding onto their land -- and not because they objected to the ...
Senegal’s Official News Agency Confirms FOCAC Dates
Senegal's Foreign Minister Aïssata Tall Sall will meet with all Dakar-based African ambassadors on Thursday to discuss preparations for the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) ministerial conference that, according to the official Agence de Presse Sénégalaise, will take place between Sunday, November 28th and ...
One of China’s Most Powerful Political Leaders, Wang Yang, Meets Separately With Legislators From Brazzaville and Kinshasa
Wang Yang, a member of China's powerful Politburo and president of the country's rubber-stamp legislature, held separate meetings with legislative leaders from both sides of the Congo river. In Beijing, Wang held talks with Edouard Mokolo Wa Mpombo, first ...
China Merchants Group Exporting Its Shekou Model of Port-industrial Development to Africa
As the final frontier for trade growth, Africa is the only region where exponential economic and cargo growth is still possible. The continent is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. However, many existing African ports do not have the capacity to accommodate a growing demand ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
DRC Government Tries to Reframe Underwhelming Beijing Visit
Letter From Nairobi: Chinese Contractors Have Turned the Kenyan Capital Into a Giant Construction Site
Large swathes of the Kenyan capital Nairobi currently feel like one big construction site on account of the ongoing construction of the 27 kilometer Nairobi Expressway that's being built by two of China's largest state-owned construction giants, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and Sinohydro.
One of China’s Leading Africa Scholars Explains the Difference Between the Chinese and Western “Offer” to Africa
NOTE: This is an update to an earlier story that we showcased this week about a primetime talk show on the national Chinese TV network Dragon TV that featured a discussion among the Foreign Ministry's top diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa, Wu Peng, and ...