Author: Eric Olander
Eric Olander is the co-founder of the China Global South Project, 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.
Related Posts
Chinese Scholars Say Closer Philippines-U.S. Ties Mark a “Dangerous Signal”
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife, Louise Araneta-Marcos, met U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for brunch on Tuesday at her official residence in northwest Washington. D.C. During their talks at the residence, the two reaffirmed the strength of their ...
Three Chinese Workers in Israel Injured in Palestinian Missile Attack
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip launched a barrage of 22 missiles on the neighboring Israeli city of Sderot on Tuesday, hitting a construction site where three Chinese workers were injured. One worker was hit by shrapnel and taken to the ...
23 Tons of Kenyan Avocados Sold Out on the Day They Arrived in Hunan Province
Kenyan avocados are once again flowing into the Chinese market, but not soon enough for many buyers who snapped 23 tons of the fruit that arrived last month in the Hunan capital of Changsha in central China. Changsha is fast emerging ...
China Now Getting Serious About Global South Debt Relief Because “They Are Now Being Burned” Says IMF Chief
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, is once again signaling that China is now serious about participating in multilateral debt restructuring efforts for the world's poorest countries. Georgieva said on Monday that Beijing's reluctance to accept losses ...
New African Debt Database Shows Chinese Loans Are Cheap, But Not the Cheapest
Researchers at the Kiel Institue for the World Economy in Germany launched a new database of African debt that confirms a key Chinese talking point: Beijing's loans to African countries are significantly cheaper than those of commercial creditors. However, David Mihalyi and ...
Understanding China’s Role in the Developing World Debt Crisis (Part 2)
The widely debunked Chinese debt trap narrative re-surfaced again in Washington, D.C. when the top U.S. military commander for Africa General Michael Langley testified before Congress -- highlighting the urgent need for better information about Chinese lending practices in developing countries. ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: United Nations Confirms India’s Population Will Surpass China’s This Week
The United Nations confirmed that India’s population will surpass that of China by the end of this week, hitting 1,425,775,850 people. This follows an earlier report from a different UN agency that predicted that India will become the world’s most populous country by the middle of this year. (BBC) ...
China’s Role in Kenya’s Unfolding Economic Calamity
There's growing speculation among international investors that Kenya is now poised to become the next African country to default on its debt. The markets worry about how Kenya will remain solvent in the face of three converging trends that are making ...
Africa’s Debt-fueled Infrastructure Binge Will Not Generate Economic Growth, Says Prominent Kenyan Scholar
Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia are among a number of African countries that borrowed billions of dollars over the past twenty years to build massive infrastructure projects that policymakers in those countries all thought would help grow their economies. That didn't happen ...
New Boston University Report Challenges Chinese Debt Trap Meme That’s Still Popular With U.S. Government Officials
Researchers at Boston University's Global Development Policy Center did not mince words in a report published this week, in which they stated that "debt trap diplomacy is not a driver of Chinese lending and overseas development finance." For anyone who follows ...
Hundreds of Chinese Evacuated From Sudan
More than 400 Chinese nationals were evacuated from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Tuesday and taken by bus to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the majority of its people in Sudan have ...
Nigeria to Finance Major Pipeline After Chinese Funding Falls Through
The Nigerian government will pick up the tab to build the last portion of the 614-kilometer AKK natural gas pipeline that China had originally agreed to finance. In 2017, the Bank of China negotiated a deal to fund the $2.5 billion project ...