Author: Eric Olander
Eric Olander is the co-founder of the China Global South Project (CAP), an independent, non-partisan media initiative dedicated to exploring every facet of China’s engagement in Africa. Eric is a fluent Mandarin-speaker and a longtime China-watcher with more than 25 years of journalism experience at many of the world’s leading media companies including CNN, the BBC, and FRANCE24 among others. He received his undergraduate degree in East African History from the University of California at Berkeley and holds a master’s degree in Chinese Public Affairs from the University of Hong Kong.
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Why Chinese Companies Are Pouring Money Into Brazil
China’s economic ties with Brazil are booming, and 2024 saw a stunning 113% jump in Chinese investment, totaling $4.2 billion across 39 projects, the highest number ever, according to a new report by the Brazil-China Business Council.
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China Launches Coordinated Media Campaign to Promote New Global Governance Initiative in Africa
The Chinese government launched what appears to be a coordinated media campaign across Africa to promote Beijing's new Global Governance Initiative (GGI), which President Xi Jinping announced at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Over the past week, a mix of ...
Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY), Indonesia’s coordinating minister for infrastructure traveled to China last month but failed to secure any new commitments. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP)
Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY), Indonesia’s coordinating minister for infrastructure, traveled to Beijing in late August to meet President Xi Jinping and senior Chinese officials. The visit, carried out on behalf of President Prabowo Subianto, was focused on sustaining Indonesia–China dialogue on strategic infrastructure. While ...
Taiwan Boosts Spending to Support Few Remaining Diplomatic Partners in Latin America
Three years after the Taiwan government said it would no longer compete with China using so-called "checkbook diplomacy," Taipei is now backtracking a bit on that pledge, with millions of dollars budgeted to bolster ties with its few remaining allies in Latin America.
Paraguay’s New Ambassador Presents Credentials to Taiwan’s President
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te accepted the credentials for Paraguay's new ambassador, Darío Filártiga Ruiz Díaz, on Friday at a ceremony at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. Paraguay is among the island's staunchest diplomatic partners, even amid mounting pressure from China to switch ...
China’s Gradual but Growing Security Influence in Africa
China is steadily expanding its security presence in Africa through deeper military ties, weapons sales, and multinational deployments as UN Peacekeepers. In fact, China is now the largest arms supplier to Sub-Saharan Africa, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace ...
China Says ‘Firmly Opposes Coercion’ as Mexico Mulls Car Tariffs
China on Thursday said it "firmly opposes any coercion" after Mexico proposed a 50-percent duty on car imports from the Asian giant. The initiative, contained in a bill submitted by Mexico's government to Congress, seeks to assuage U.S. President Donald Trump ...
India-China Reset? Modi and Xi Test a Fragile Rapprochement
The reset between India and China appears to be holding. Nearly two weeks after President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin, five years of frigid ties between the two Asian ...
The Trump, Xi Foreign Policy Duel in Southeast Asia
Two sharply contrasting foreign policy visions emerged this week from China and the United States. In Beijing, President Xi Jinping outlined an agenda in talks with fellow BRICS leaders that directly challenged Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine, urging instead for stronger ...
Brazil Leads Emerging Markets in Attracting Chinese Investment
A surge of Chinese investment in Brazil's automotive, energy, and mining sectors propelled the South American country to become the top emerging market destination for Chinese FDI last year, according to a new report published by the Brazil-China Business Council. Chinese ...
China Says Trade Grew in August, but Below Forecasts
China's exports expanded 4.4 percent year-on-year in August, official data showed Monday, as the world's second-largest economy navigated an uneasy trade war truce with the United States. The increase in China's overseas shipments last month fell below a Bloomberg forecast of ...
Pentagon to Propose Radical Strategic Shift Away From China to Focus on Domestic, Hemispheric Threats: Politico
The Pentagon's top policy planners are proposing a dramatic strategic shift that would redirect the U.S. military's primary focus from countering China and Russia globally to focusing instead on the U.S. homeland and projecting power throughout the Western Hemisphere, according to Politico.
Kenya Caught Uncomfortably Between the U.S. and China
The Kenyan government is under mounting pressure from the United States over its close ties with China. Influential lawmakers in Washington are furious over comments made by President William Ruto during a visit to Beijing earlier this year, where he said ...
China’s Small State Diplomacy Strategy in Latin America
While most of the world's attention at this week's Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin was on Xi Jinping's meetings with leaders from the big powers, namely India and Russia, the Chinese President also spent considerable time with heads of state ...
SCO Summit Review: Xi, Modi & Putin Present a United Front
This week's Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin signaled China’s ambition to redefine global governance. Leaders from more than 20 countries endorsed the Tianjin Declaration, pressing for a multipolar order, tighter security cooperation, and expanded economic integration.