Author: Cobus van Staden
Dr. Cobus van Staden is an accomplished scholar, journalist, and think tank analyst with more than 20 years of experience in Africa and Asia. Previously, he was the senior China-Africa researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg. Cobus completed his Ph.D. in Japanese studies and media studies at the University of Nagoya in Japan in 2008. He focused on comparisons of Chinese and Japanese public diplomacy in Africa during postdoctoral positions at the University of Stellenbosch and the SARCHI Chair on African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg before joining the Department of Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013. His academic research focused on media coverage of the China-Africa and Japan-Africa relationships, as well as the use of media in public diplomacy in the Global South.
Related Posts
China Releases Climate Plan Focusing Heavily on Global South
China has released a new concept note on climate cooperation in the runup to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (known as COP27) taking place in Egypt in November. The document suggests areas of cooperation between China and international partners on ...
Morocco Buys Chinese Drones
Morocco bought an unspecified number of Chinese-made Wing Loong II drones. The remote-controlled planes have both reconnaissance and strike capability and are an upgrade of the earlier Wing Loong drone. Morocco already owns four of these older models and similar tech from Israel and Turkey.
Ethiopia Debuts New Chinese-Built Science Museum
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated a new Chinese-built museum of science in Addis Ababa last week. He said the museum "offers both the young and old a place to inquire, explore, innovate and invent" and praised how it was "built in ...
Chinese-Built Plant to Turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s Biggest Steel Producer
A new Chinese-led plant could turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s largest producer of iron and steel. Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa led the groundbreaking ceremony of the new $1.5 billion project, led by Dinson Iron and Steel, a subsidiary of the Chinese company Tsingshan Holdings.
Libya Blockbuster Leads China’s National Day Movie Releases
Home Coming led China's National Day holiday box office bonanza, racking up $144 million in ticket sales during its first week of release. The holiday is usually marked with movies aimed at patriotic audiences. Home Coming dramatizes the evacuation of Chinese citizens from Libya in 2011.
China Wades Into Uganda-EU Oil Pipeline Dispute
China has sided with the Ugandan government in condemning the European Parliament’s September call to pause the building of a 1,443-kilometer oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania. Zhang Lizhong, China’s ambassador to Uganda, said the EU “should not use the excuse of environmental ...
China and India’s Bumpy Road to An “Asian Century”
China and India must find ways of tolerating each other’s military rise to ensure the dawn of an “Asian Century.” So argued Zhou Bo, a former official in China’s Ministry of Defense and currently a researcher at the Center for Strategic ...
Climate Sweet, Climate Bitter
Last week it was Pakistan, this week South Florida. The climate collapse is like a monstrous four-dimensional version of whack-a-mole. You never know where - or how - it will hit. But the hits keep coming. With the damaged Nord Stream pipeline (and ...
Ghana Commissions First Roads Built Under Controversial Bauxite Deal
Ghana’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia this week commissioned the first road infrastructure built under a controversial $2 billion resource-for-infrastructure deal with the Chinese conglomerate Sinohydro. Bawumia was eager to claim the inauguration of 441 km of roads in the Cape Coast region as ...
Chinese Gold Miner in Zimbabwe Faces Labor Abuse Allegations — Again
A Chinese mining company in Zimbabwe is under fire for labor abuses. Workers at Odzi Resources Zimbabwe’s gold mine in the Mutare district accuse managers of violence and say operations often breach local laws. They say they have long worked without protective gear, ...
As China Nitpicks Terms, Asia’s Debt Bomb is Ticking…
As technocrats in Sri Lanka and Laos grapple with renegotiating loans to a variety of creditors, including China, the region's creeping debt distress is slowly tipping into a full-blown humanitarian disaster. The situation is the most critical in Sri Lanka, where ...
Debt Trap or Naivety Trap? China’s Road to Global South Debt Distress
Is China's part in Global South debt the result of 'debt trap' machinations, or over-confidence on Beijing's part? The prominent China-focused economist Michael Pettis recently unpacked this issue in a Twitter thread: I've long argued that what others described as "debt-trap diplomacy" ...