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

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.

  • Get a daily email packed with the latest China-Africa news and analysis.
  • Read exclusive insights on the key trends shaping China-Africa relations.
  • Full access to the News Feed that provides daily updates on Chinese engagement in Africa and throughout the Global South.

China, Africa and the Global South... find out what’s happening.

Subscribe today for unlimited access.

OR

Already a subscriber? Log in Click Here to Learn More
by Eric Olander

Most Read

1
Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
2 Chinese Military Fans Discuss Why Indonesia Bought Rafale Instead of J-10C
3
China, U.S. Ink Rare Earth Deal; More Trade Pacts Coming
4
Chinese Cargo Planes Secretly Ferrying Supplies to Iran, Claim Online Sleuths
5
Six Million Donkeys Slaughtered for Chinese Medicine: Charity
6
Rubio to Welcome Asian ‘Quad’ Back to Washington

You Might Like

Africa’s Shifting Infrastructure Landscape

In the current heated discussion about the fluctuations and debt implications of Chinese infrastructure funding to Africa, one sometimes forgets exactly how transformative Chinese financing has been on the continent. It’s no secret ...

The Infrastructure Cold War 

This week, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee heard testimony about foreign investments channeled by the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), an agency founded in the late Trump era and key to the implementation of ...

The US/EU/JPN All Seem to Want to Challenge China’s Development Push in Africa… But They’ll Never Admit It

The U.S., Europeans and Japanese have all convened Africa-focused development summits in 2019 and one theme has emerged from all of them: everyone is keen to catch up or somehow rival China’s dominance ...

Will China or the U.S. Build the New Mombasa-Nairobi Expressway? Confusion Swirls Amid Conflicting Headlines

The United States ambassador to Kenya, Kyle McCarter, blasted a report in the Friday edition of the Kenya Star newspaper that claimed the “U.S. government had ditched” the planned Mombasa ...

What is The China-Global South Project?

Independent

The China-Global South Project is passionately independent, non-partisan and does not advocate for any country, company or culture.

News

A carefully curated selection of the day’s most important China-Global South stories. Updated 24 hours a day by human editors. No bots, no algorithms.

Analysis

Diverse, often unconventional insights from scholars, analysts, journalists and a variety of stakeholders in the China-Global South discourse.

Networking

A unique professional network of China-Africa scholars, analysts, journalists and other practioners from around the world.

More about CGSP