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
MTN CEO Tells Shareholders He Wants to Try Again To Get an Ethiopian Telecom License
MTN chief executive Ralph Mupita told his company's shareholders on Friday that if given the chance, he'd like to resubmit a bid for an Ethiopian telecom license. MTN and its backers from the Silk Road Fund of China were outbid last ...
New Study Reveals the Breadth of China’s Diplomatic Use of Social Media and How Chinese Messaging is Amplified
China's use of U.S. social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook is a relatively new phenomenon that started in earnest around the end of 2019 and gathered speed through 2020. As such, there's been little research conducted into the breadth of Chinese engagement on these platforms and ...
South African Singer Eli Zaelo Wants to Become Hong Kong’s Next C-Pop Star
Pretoria native Eli Zaelo first moved to Hong Kong in 2015 to join the cast of the Disney show the "Lion King" which performed in the territory. After the show was over and she returned to South Africa, Zaelo felt compelled to return to the southern Chinese ...
China Moves Ahead With Vaccine Distribution While COVAX, U.S. Efforts Falter
By now, COVAX, the global vaccine alliance should have shipped almost a quarter of a billion doses to the world's poorest countries. That hasn't happened. In fact, the alliance has distributed just 72 million jabs, a tiny fraction of what's needed. ...
Uganda Wants to Make It Big in China’s Booming Coffee Market
Uganda, like many African countries, suffers from an enormous trade deficit with China. Last year, according to UN figures, Uganda exported just $40 million worth of goods to China but imported more than $1.3 billion in return. The government in Kampala ...
OPay Seeks to Raise $400 Million For Expansion Signaling Chinese VCs May Be Ready to Return to Africa
The Chinese-backed African fintech platform OPay is reportedly in talks with investors to raise as much as $400 million at a valuation of more than $1.5 billion, according to a report in The Information. That valuation, by the way, is three times higher than the ...
This Picture Should Be Quite Worrying to Every Australian Politician
Colin Ding, president of the Chinese mining company Kingho Energy Group, paid a visit to the State House in Freetown on Tuesday to meet with President Julius Maada Bio about the company's new port and rail lease agreements that will be used to ramp up iron ...
Chinese vs. COVAX Vaccine Deliveries to Developing Countries
China has shipped three times as many COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries as the global COVAX alliance, according to the latest data. Chinese vaccine deliveries, as of this week, totalled 213.2 million doses, with almost 20 million sent to African countries,
JAMA’s Findings on Sinopharm’s Efficacy Will Allow Public Health Officials in the Global South to Sleep Better at Night
The prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association published results on Wednesday of new phase 3 clinical trials of Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine and confirmed that the jab's efficacy rate is between 72-78%. More importantly, the trials ...
Everyone, Not Just the Chinese, Are Playing the Game of Vaccine Diplomacy Says SOAS Prof Stephen Chan
Acclaimed China-Africa scholar and University of London professor Stephen Chan pushed back on the narrative that China alone is using vaccines to gain political advantage in its foreign policy. "To be fair, everyone's playing this game of vaccine diplomacy," he said on the latest episode of the ...
Popular American YouTuber Condenses China-Africa Relations Into a Slickly Produced 15 Minute Video
Popular current affairs YouTuber American YouTuber Johnny Harris (1.42 million subscribers) dedicated a recent episode of his show to exploring Chinese engagement in Africa. For those with a more sophisticated understanding of the topic, it will be easy ...
China’s Outgoing Ambassador to Somalia Says Goodbye With a Bit of Flair
China's ambassador to Somalia, Qin Jian, is transitioning from his post and stopped by Villa Somalia this week to say goodbye to President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo in style. It's not clear where Ambassador Qin's next assignment will be.