Author: Cobus van Staden
Why Africans Should Keep an Eye on the U.S.-ASEAN Summit
Nobody would blame Africans for not focusing on this week’s summit between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN.) After all, the continent is dealing with a few prior priorities: creeping debt distress in key states largely ignored by the international community, ...
Sinosteel Signs Iron Ore Deal with Cameroon
The Chinese state-owned steelmaker Sinosteel signed a $690 million deal to mine iron ore at southern Cameroon’s Lobe Mine. The deal is part of China’s ongoing attempts to lessen its dependence on Australian iron ore, as it also diversifies its sourcing away from other major ...
Why Did Chinese Lending to Zambia Go So Wrong? Zambia-China Expert Counts the Ways
Ching Kwan (CK) Lee is one of the most influential thinkers on Africa-China relations working today. While she’s mostly known in academic circles, her analysis has reshaped thinking about the nature of China’s global influence, especially in Africa. A professor of ...
Star Power Boosts Rwandan Coffee in Online Sales Session
The famous Chinese actress Liu Tao recently hosted a live sale of Rwandan coffee on Alibaba’s e-commerce website Taobao. She sold 500kg of coffee beans in 5 minutes. It usually takes two to three months to sell that much on e-commerce sites. ...
Lockdown “Shout-Out” Videos Featuring Africans Raise Controversy
The ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns in cities like Shanghai are sparking a cottage industry of commissioned viral videos commenting on the crisis. Recently, videos of shirtless African men, dubbed Wolf Warriors, dancing or posing with messages in Mandarin have become trendy. While many Chinese consumers see ...
Flurry of Coverage on China’s Rise in the Global South Reveals Indian Anxieties
Few countries are as anxious about China’s rise than India. However, a recent flurry of coverage shows that in contrast to the United States, India’s focus falls squarely on the Global South. These articles also show how central the Indian press and think tank community have been ...
Ethiopia’s Ambassador to China Rebuffs Debt Trap Narratives
Ethiopia’s ambassador to China, Teshome Toga Chanaka pushed back against the idea that loans from China are plunging African countries into debt traps. He recently sat down for an interview with Wang Huiyao, the head of the Center for China and Globalization, a prominent foreign policy think ...
Tunisia Inaugurates Chinese-Built Diplomatic Academy, Boosting Beijing’s ‘Building Diplomacy’
China’s construction of government buildings in Africa isn’t slowing, even as it cuts back on other large-scale infrastructure projects. Tunisia recently became the newest example, with the inauguration of its new Chinese-built Tunisian Diplomatic Academy. The building, built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corp., will ...
The Implications of China’s Infrastructure-Building in Africa for the United States
The Washington-based think tank, the National Bureau of Asian Research, published a large new report (PDF) on the role of infrastructure in China’s influence-building in Africa. It features prominent scholars providing geostrategic perspectives on the impact of different kinds of Chinese-built infrastructure. ...
U.S. and India Could Be Behind Anti-Chinese Terrorist Attack in Pakistan: Chinese Expert
A prominent Chinese expert on South Asia said the United States and India may have been involved in the suicide bombing that killed three Chinese employees of the Confucius Center in Karachi, Pakistan. Liu Zongyi, the Secretary-General ...