Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
So, What Exactly Did Emmanuel Macron Accomplish With His African Finance Summit? Nothing Substantive.
The day-long Summit on the Financing of African Economies wrapped up in Paris on Tuesday and left a lot of people scratching their heads wondering what exactly was the purpose of the gathering. Unlike Monday's event that focused on Sudanese debt ...
Sierra Leone’s Fishing Minister: ‘There Must Be Development’
The deal between the government of Sierra Leone and Chinese entities to build an industrial fishing harbor on 100 hectares of beach and rainforest reads like a textbook example of why China remains so unpopular among many African communities, even as its relationship with African governments goes ...
Macron’s Africa Summit is a Good Start, But Nowhere Near Good Enough
One by one, French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday greeted a stream of Africa's most powerful leaders to the Elysée Palace in Paris with a mix of COVID-friendly fist bumps, elbow jabs, and awkward shoulder pats. The heads of state along with top officials from ...
The Optics of China Paying For Kenya’s New Foreign Ministry Building Just Looks Awful
Kenya is a middle-income country with a $100 billion economy and it still can't afford to pay for its own $35 million foreign ministry building? Really? They spent $6 billion on a railroad and the government can't figure out a way ...
Q&A: Is China Really Delivering for Senegal In the Fight Against COVID-19?
As the co-chair for the upcoming 2021 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Senegal is in a unique position to negotiate a better relationship with China as well as support other African countries to do so as well. At Development Reimagined, an ...
Commodity Supercycle Blues
The editorial board of Financial Times published an op-ed yesterday announcing a new commodities supercycle. They argued that the global pivot towards climate-friendlier technologies like electric vehicles is pushing demand for metals like cobalt, lithium and palladium (used in catalytic converters.) In addition, the Biden administration’s new commitments ...
China’s Role in “Decolonizing” Healthcare in Africa
I still remember the day I arrived in the quiet city of Natitingou, North-West Benin, after the 7000-mile journey from my hometown in China. I was to be a translator in a Chinese medical team deployed to the local hospital. Over the 13 months ...
General Stephen Townsend’s Comments on China Are Not Helping the U.S. Cause in Africa
The top commander for U.S. forces in Africa (AFRICOM), General Stephen Townsend, thought it would be a good idea to re-surface the old trope that China is looking to build a new military outpost in Africa, this time on the West Coast.
The Winding Road of the COVID Crisis
One of the pandemic’s many challenges is how it outflanks our attempts to impose narratives on it. Humans are storytelling creatures – we use narrative to make sense of chaos and to prioritize threats. Each new phase of the pandemic scrambles the stories we used to make ...
Tech Digest: How Chinese, Kenyan, and Swedish Music Streaming Apps Are All Battling Out in Africa
2021 has been a big year for music streaming in Africa. Global streaming giants are flocking to the African market with Swedish music streaming provider Spotify announcing a sweeping expansion to 40 new countries on the continent. As Spotify attempts to expand its reach in Africa, ...
G7 Countries Are Going to Learn That Challenging China on Infrastructure is a Lot Easier Said Than Done
When I moved to Vietnam in 2012, Japan had just broken ground on the country's first subway system in the southern commercial hub of Saigon. Back then, there was a lot of excitement around ambitious plans to build half a dozen lines within a decade.
When It Comes to Deforestation, There’s Plenty of Blame to Go Around
The NGO collective Forests and Finance released a new study today showing that investments by Chinese banks make it the world’s second-largest funder of projects linked to tropical deforestation. Analyzing data from financial databases and company publications, the study found that between 2016 and 2020, Chinese ...