Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
Chinese Officials Are Now Trying to Reshape the COVID-19 Narrative: “Coronavirus is Not a China Virus”
Now that the COVID-19 infection rate in China is steadily declining and the government appears to be gaining some measure of control over the outbreak, officials in Beijing are now turning their attention to getting the domestic economy going again and to re-shaping ...
Is a Chinese-funded Aquaculture Technology Demonstration Center in South Africa a Ghost Ship?
In 2006, the Chinese government began a program of delivering agricultural aid to Africa through establishing Agriculture Technology Demonstrations Centers (ATDC), aimed at stimulating local development and also promote Chinese commercial and diplomatic interests in Africa. Some of these ATDCs have been beneficial, but many others are ...
Isolated, Alienated and Stigmatized in Kenya
One day, hopefully soon, scientists will find a cure for COVID-19 and things will start to get back to normal. Planes will start to fly, ports will reopen and people on both sides will try to get back to where they were just a couple of months ...
Confidence Eroding in East African Governments’ Handling of Burgeoning COVID-19 Crisis
Two of East Africa's largest newspapers, The East African and Daily Nation (both incidentally owned by the same Nation Media Group) issued blistering critiques of how the region's governments are handling the worsening COVID-19 crisis. Kenya is a particular flashpoint, where ...
Without South African Chrome, There Can Be No Chinese Stainless Steel
Coming off the N4 motorway near the small town of Marikana in South Africa’s platinum landscape, one almost immediately encounters the huge Tharisa Minerals mining operation. This gigantic open cast mine was started in 2009 for the production of chromium concentrate and platinum group metals (PGM) and ...
The Futility of Pompeo’s Anti-China Message in Africa
When U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began his Africa trip in mid-February, it was clear that countering China's influence on the continent was at the top of his agenda. Yet from Senegal to Angola, he restrained himself from the hard-hitting ...
China-UK Development Cooperation in Africa After Brexit: Challenges and Opportunities
Editor's Note: Until recently, China's aid and development programs in Africa and elsewhere around the world were largely financed through the Ministry of Commerce. Then, in 2018, the government announced the creation of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) with the ambition that it would eventually ...
China Southern Resumes Direct Flights to Nairobi Sparking Widespread Outrage Over COVID-19 Risks
239 passengers arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday aboard a China Southern flight from Guangzhou. The flight marks a resumption of the airline's direct route after a 15-day hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in China. The plane's arrival sparked widespread ...
COVID-19 Expected to Cause Widespread Economic Disruption in Africa
Editor's Note: although Africa, so far, has been spared from the health consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the economic impact is already being felt across the continent and is expected to have severe repercussions in most countries through reduced export earnings, higher borrowing costs, and ...
African Citizens in Wuhan and the Evacuation Conundrum
The increasingly desperate pleas from African students to be evacuated from the epicenter of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China raises broader, thornier questions about how Africa should deal with its colonial past. A past that still casts a long shadow over much of the continent. ...
Africa Could Be the Winner as the U.S. Attempts to Stifle Huawei
This much is clear: 5G is coming. About 100 times faster than current mobile speeds, it will deliver faster internet to more people. One square kilometer of 4G can support about 4,000 devices. With 5G that jumps to about one million devices. But this ...
The China-Mediterranean Observer: Growing Chinese Concern Over Instability in Libya
Every month, CAP features analysis from the ChinaMed Project, a joint research initiative by the Center for Mediterranean Area Studies of Peking University and the Torino World Affairs Institute, part of the TOChina Hub developed by the University of Torino.