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 Manufacturers Are Leaving the Pearl River Delta to Go to Vietnam
International companies are by no means alone in looking to move their supply chains out of China. A growing number of Chinese manufacturers are doing the same, albeit for very different reasons. While U.S., European and Japanese companies have been frustrated ...
Kenyan Avocado Farmers Will Have to Jump Through One More Hoop Before Exports to China Can Begin
The Kenyan government's years-long effort to export fresh avocados to China ran into yet another obstacle this week when Chinese authorities informed Nairobi that another round of audits will be required before shipments can begin. “We have received communication from China ...
So Far, The New Chinese-Built Nairobi Expressway Isn’t Doing Much to Relieve Traffic Congestion
This is what critics of the new Nairobi Expressway feared would happen: that a select few wealthy motorists would be able to afford the tolls while everyone else is relegated to the side roads that are jammed far beyond capacity.
DRC Cobalt Shipments to China Resume Via the Port of Durban
Cargo vessels loaded with Congolese cobalt are once again making their way to China now that port operations in Durban are beginning to recover. The port was shut for weeks after severe floods last month blocked the roads and railways that transport the tons of raw materials that depart from southern ...
Unhappy With Continued Reliance on China for Critical Minerals, U.S. Senators Push Biden to Act
In a rare display of bipartisanship, a group of U.S. Senators this week sent letters to four cabinet members expressing their frustration over the administration's lack of progress in using funds allocated by Congress in the Energy Act of 2020 to build a domestic critical mineral supply chain.
Top U.S. Treasury Official Issues Veiled Warnings to African Countries About the Risks of Borrowing From China
Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo repeated longstanding warnings to African ministers about the dangers of borrowing from China in a virtual speech before the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development that's taking place in Dakar, Senegal this week.
Speed is the One of the Key Hallmarks of Chinese Infrastructure Diplomacy in Africa
Chinese ambassador to the DR Congo, Zhu Jing, touted the rapid pace of construction of the new Kinsuka power station that's being built by Shanghai Power in the capital Kinshasa. Just 10 months after construction began, said Zhu on Twitter, the new station is more than 50% finished. ...
Update on the Current State of China-Nigeria Ties With Efem Ubi
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari had envisioned leaving office with vast amounts of shiny new Chinese-financed infrastructure built throughout the country. That's not going to happen. China has lost its appetite for large-scale development projects in Nigeria leaving some $15 billion of ...
Motorists Respond to Nairobi Expressway Grand Opening
Kenyan social media influencers were among the lucky few that were invited to drive along the Nairobi Expressway during this weekend's public trial. Not surprisingly, the reactions were overwhelmingly positive on both YouTube and Twitter, especially since they had the roads to themselves.
DRC Industry Minister Meets With Two Key Chinese Players in the EV Battery Business
A meeting last week between a pair of senior Chinese executives and the DR Congo's Industry Minister, Julien Paluku, hints that the government is moving to expand domestic processing of raw materials used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries. Paluku met ...
TikTok’s Chinese Parent Company Targets African Teens With New Messaging App
Bytedance, parent company of the enormously successful social video app TikTok, launched a new mobile messaging app that targets Africa's huge teen market. The new app will combine music and messaging features with an eye on displacing the current market leaders ...
Kenyan Court Orders Government to Publish Chinese Loan Contracts For SGR
Two civil society activists in Kenya, Khelef Khalifa and Wanjiru Gikonyo, have won a massive victory in their longshot campaign to force the government to release its contracts with Chinese creditors for the multi-billion dollar Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). The Attorney General and two ...