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What a Small Electric Substation in Kinshasa Tells Us About Why Developing Countries Often Prefer to Work With China on Infrastructure

by Eric Olander
Chinese-financed electric substation in Kinshasa. Image via @Amb_ZhuJing

China’s ambassador to the DR Congo, Zhu Jing, posted one of those anodyne tweets on Sunday about yet another Chinese-financed infrastructure project in Africa nearing completion.

These kinds of Chinese infrastructure soft power propaganda messages (aka “Infrastructure Porn”) have become so common that a tweet by Zhu about a small 200-kilovolt electric power sub-station doesn’t generate a lot of attention… but it should.

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