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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Why Are Australians So Freaked Out About China’s Security Deal With the Solomon Islands? Because They Saw What Happened in Djibouti
China's promises that its new security pact with the Solomon Islands is not a precursor to the PLA building a new military installation in the South Pacific carry very little weight with Australian analysts who say they've heard these same assurances before. In ...
IMF Officials Issue Urgent Appeal for Better Creditor Coordination to Resolve Worsening Debt Crisis
With 41 of the world's most indebted countries now facing the real prospect of default, a trio of high-level officials at the International Monetary Fund has issued an urgent appeal to the world's major creditors to take action. "Putting in place ...
Financial Mega Firm BlackRock, China Both Blamed For Slowing Zambia’s Debt Restructuring Process
Zambia's burgeoning debt crisis is once again in the spotlight as stakeholders exchange blame over who's responsible for blocking a comprehensive deal to restructure the country's $17.3 billion of external debt. Anti-poverty activists are accusing BlackRock, the $10 trillion asset management ...
World Bank Surpasses China as Kenya’s Largest External Lender, Says New Government Report
The World Bank has replaced China as Kenya's largest external creditor according to a new Treasury report submitted to parliament this week. Kenya now owes the multilateral lender $10.4 billion compared to $6.9 billion due to Chinese creditors, namely the China ...
Namibia is the Latest African Country That Wants to Build a Railway to the Southern DRC’s Cobalt Mining Zone
Namibia is the latest in a growing number of African countries that wants to become the gateway for Congolese cobalt and other resources. The Namibian transport ministry just completed a feasibility study for a 770km railway that will connect the southern DRC mining hub of Lumbubashi with its port ...
African Ambassadors to China and UN Officials in Horn of Africa Hold Talks
The United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, Siddharth Chatterjee, convened an online forum on Monday that included his peers from UN missions throughout the Horn of Africa (HoA) and a group of HoA ambassadors in Beijing as well as the envoy from the African Union.
Israeli Counter Intelligence Services Scramble to Collect Every Mug Given as a Gift By Chinese After Discovering Bug
Israel's internal security service Shin Bet is moving quickly to identify all foreign gifts given to government officials after locating a listening device in a thermal mug given by China, according to reports from Israel's GLZ radio. Agents removed glasses and other ...
China’s DRC Envoy Seeks to Mend Fences With the Country’s Powerful Mining Company
China's ambassador to the DR Congo, Zhu Jing, paid a visit on Monday to meet Alphonse Kaputo, the powerful chairman of the country's state-run mining company Gécamines. The courtesy call was no doubt part of an effort to try and mend ties with ...
China’s DRC Envoy Makes High-Profile Visit to Cobalt Mining Belt, Sends a Powerful Message to Both Kinshasa and Washington
China's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zhu Jing, made a high-profile visit over the weekend to one of the country's most important power brokers in the heart of the cobalt mining zone in the southern mining belt in Katanga province. ...
Zhu’s Other Message in Katanga: See, We Are Building That Infrastructure We Promised
China has faced withering criticism in the DR Congo over the past year that it has failed to live up to the promises it made to build infrastructure in exchange for access to the country's vast mineral and metal resources. So, part of ...
Chinese State Media: Kenyan Police Detain Terrorism Suspect Scoping Out the New Nairobi Expressway
Police in Nairobi have reportedly detained an individual on Sunday they suspect might have been scoping out the newly-built, soon-to-be-opened Nairobi Expressway to commit an act of terrorism. David Mulinge Kasimbi was allegedly caught in a restricted zone according to two ...
Rear Admiral Gives the Clearest Hint to Date About Why the U.S. Is So Concerned About a Chinese Military Base in West Africa
One of the Pentagon's most senior military officers for Africa provided the clearest indication so far as to why the United States is becoming increasingly anxious over the purported Chinese ambition to build a military outpost somewhere along Africa's Atlantic coast, most likely in Equatorial Guinea.