Month: January 2022
Related Posts
5,600kgs of Ethiopian Coffee Sells Out in Just 5 Seconds on Alibaba’s Livestream
When Ethiopian ambassador to China Teshome Toga agreed to join online influencer Li Jiaqi on a livestream on Alibaba's mega e-shopping platform T-mall to sell Ethiopian coffee, he no doubt imagined that he would have to do a bit of promotion to help jumpstart sales. ...
Xiao Long’s Unexciting But Very Interesting Vlog on Daily Life in Rural Rwanda
Xiao Long's (aka "Little Dragon") YouTube vlog isn't particularly exciting. He doesn't food blog, have a cute girlfriend that shoots his videos, or go on fancy adventures that fans love to watch. In fact, his monotone voice-over style is downright ...
The Big Chill
Over the last few years, we’ve seen increasing hand-wringing in Western capitals about how the money China is spending in the Global South translates into direct political influence. This week research was published that quantifies the issue. A new report ...
Head of U.S. Forces in Africa Repeats Unsubstantiated Claim that China Is Planning an Atlantic Military Base
The commander for U.S. forces in Africa (AFRICOM), General Stephen J. Townsend reiterated his assertion that China is looking to build a second military base in Africa, this time somewhere along the Atlantic coast. In a wide-ranging ...
How the Chinese Debt Trap Narrative Spreads in Washington
A webinar convened on Friday by the Middle East Policy Council in Washington, D.C. highlights how the Chinese debt trap narrative has become an accepted truth among U.S. stakeholders, despite a lack of evidence that Beijing intentionally loads up developing countries with unsustainable levels of ...
Construction of an Important Sino-Nigerian Infrastructure Experiment is Almost Finished, Says Transportation Minister
Nigeria's Transportation Minister (and likely presidential candidate) Rotimi Amaechi conducted a site visit on Saturday of the massive Lekki Deep Seaport project in Lagos where he said construction is now 80% finished. He added that he's expecting Chinese contractors to finish ...
Uganda Hosts Trade and Investment Forum in Beijing
The Ugandan embassy in Beijing and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened a hybrid on and offline conference on Friday to discuss how to boost Chinese trade and investment in the East African country. High on the agenda were the ...
Heated Confrontation Between Chinese Businesses and Civil Society Groups Intensifies in Zimbabwe
A simmering conflict between a coalition of 27 civil society groups in Zimbabwe and Chinese enterprises, mostly mining companies, boiled over late last week when organizations representing both sides published scathing statements about each other. The primary complaint by the civil ...
It’s Becoming Increasingly Difficult For African News Consumers to Figure Out What’s Legitimate News About China and What’s Propaganda
A column published on one of Ghana's largest news portals, Ghanaweb, on Sunday highlights the difficulties confronting readers in determining what is legitimate editorial content and what is state-produced propaganda. Last week, the official Ghana News Agency published ...
How China’s Economic and Security Interests Converge in Africa
China-Africa trade smashed a new record in 2021 and surpassed $250 billion. This was a dramatic increase over the $187 billion that the two sides the previous year. But those enhanced trade ties come as ...
Kenya’s SGR Scandal Isn’t Going Away
This week saw the announcement that the United Kingdom’s international development investment arm, the CDC Group, will invest $1 billion in Kenyan infrastructure. This will include funding a new rail transit hub in Nairobi. It’s interesting that the UK is leaning into ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: Three Chinese Warships Head to Gulf of Aden For Anti-Piracy Mission
Three Chinese warships left Guangdong on Saturday and are now making their way to the Gulf of Aden to take part in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia. However, the key question is how long they'll stay. After 14 years, the Somali government now appears to have ...