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.
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Now that China is beginning to relax its draconian Zero COVID policies and President Xi Jinping has emerged from three years of diplomatic hibernation, Ryan Hass, a top China scholar at the Brookings Institution, reflected in a multipart Twitter thread on Tuesday on the choices ...
Why U.S. Diplomacy is Struggling to Compete With China in the Global South
40 countries around the world currently do not have U.S. ambassadors. The corner offices have been empty for months, even years at U.S. embassies in major regional powers like India and Saudia Arabia. Even Italy, a G7 country, ...
New Report on China-Arab Relations Provides Overview of What Will be on Xi’s Agenda at Upcoming Saudi Summit
Xi Jinping is widely expected to travel to Saudi Arabia at the end of the week for what will be his first visit to the Kingdom in six years and his first since Riyadh became China's largest oil supplier. The President is scheduled to ...
Why the Persian Gulf is China’s “New Africa”
Fifteen years ago, Africa supplied a third of China's imported oil and was a key recipient of foreign investment beyond its near abroad in east Asia. Today, a large portion of that energy procurement has shifted to countries in the Persian ...
U.S. Officials Are Working Hard to Keep China Off the Agenda of Next Week’s Africa Leaders Summit
The White House is working hard to make sure that China does not become a topic of conversation at next week's U.S.-Africa leaders summit that will take place in Washington, D.C. “Our goal is not to center our conversation on competition ...
China Playing “Aggressive Game” in Africa and the World, Says U.S. Trade Rep Katherine Tai
The top U.S. trade official, Katherine Tai, acknowledged that Washington is increasingly facing difficulties in Africa and other regions because China, not the U.S., is most countries' largest trading partner. During a conversation with The Atlantic Council's ...
Partially Chinese-Financed Hydropower Dam Cuts Power Deliveries to Zambia, Zimbabwe Due to Lack of Water
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Buhari Lays Cornerstone For Chinese-financed ECOWAS Headquarters in Nigeria
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari led a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Chinese-financed headquarters of the West African regional organization ECOWAS. The new $32 million facility will be entirely paid for by the Chinese government and mostly built by Chinese ...
With Apple Reducing Its Manufacturing Dependence on China, Why is So Much Going to Asia and So Little to Latin America?
Apple is reportedly moving faster to relocate more of its production to countries outside China and reduce its longtime dependence on Taiwan-based contract manufacturing giant Foxconn. Eventually, the Cupertino-based electronics giant aims to ship 40-45% of iPhones from ...
Why It Isn’t China’s Fault Its Trade With Africa Is So Distorted
China is forecast to break another trade record with Africa this year, potentially even crossing the $300 billion barrier. While that sounds great, the big number masks a distorted trading relationship that is mostly concentrated in extractives among a small handful ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: Saudi Arabia to Mark Chinese President Xi Jinping’s State Visit Next Week With a China-Arab Summit
Saudi Arabia will mark Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit from 7 to 9 December with a China-Arab summit, according to Saudi diplomats. Invitations to Middle Eastern and North African leaders have reportedly already gone out. The summit will come at a delicate moment in U.S.-Saudi relations, which ...
New Research Reveals Sri Lanka’s Debts to China Are Much Higher Than Previously Reported
New data reveals Sri Lankan borrowers owe China's main policy banks significantly more money than had been previously reported, an important revelation as the embattled South Asian country lobbies its creditors for debt relief. Chinese loans to Sri Lanka totaled $7.4 ...