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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China is Absolutely Destroying the Competition in the Global Battle Over Vaccine Optics
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is the latest head of state to take part in what's become a very effective Chinese propaganda campaign by rolling up his sleeve for a high-profile injection of a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccination. Last week,
RIP “Chinese Debt Trap Diplomacy” (2017-2021)
Four years after Indian academic Brahma Chellaney first introduced the concept of Chinese "debt-trap diplomacy," the now widely-debunked theory appears to be flaming out. But it had quite a run. Chellaney's idea was that ...
Update on the Chinese Debt Situation in Africa
Chinese debt relief talks are underway in a number of African countries including Angola, Zambia, Kenya, and Ethiopia among others but you wouldn't really know it. Officials on all sides aren't saying much and there's relatively little press coverage on the ...
Vaccine Deliveries in Africa Gain Momentum With New Shipments From Covax, China and J&J’s New Jab on the Way
The world's first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines supplied by the WHO-led Covax alliance landed at Kotoka International Airport in Accra on Wednesday adding new momentum to the pace of vaccine deliveries on the continent. This particular batch included 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine that was manufactured ...
200,000 Chinese Vaccines Land in Algeria
Algeria's national vaccination drive, already up and running, got a shot in the arm on Wednesday with the arrival of 200,000 Sinopharm jabs donated by China. Algiers kicked off its vaccination campaign last month using a mix of supplies from China, Russia, and AstraZeneca.
Tiny Cabo Verde Seen as Big Prize in U.S.-China Battle for Influence in Africa
The small Atlantic Ocean island state of Cabo Verde appears to be taking on a much larger role within the burgeoning U.S.-China rivalry in Africa. On Tuesday, in just his fourth call to an African counterpart, the new U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, spoke by phone ...
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Gyude Moore, the former Liberian public works minister and now a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development joined prominent China scholar Damien Ma, director and co-founder of MacroPolo, the in-house think tank of the Paulson Institute in Chicago, for an online discussion that ...
Fact Check: Angola is NOT a Good Case Study of Chinese Debt in Africa
The Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Forecasting Director Agathe Demarais characterized China's loan portfolio in Angola as "a good case study" for Beijing's financial engagement across Africa. "Not really," replied Hannah Ryder, CEO of the Beijing-based consultancy Development Reimagined, "it's ...
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Scholars around the world are mourning the passing of acclaimed China-Africa scholar Ian Taylor. Former students, colleagues and peers published tributes online and on Twitter. Professor Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University
Uganda Government Refutes WSJ Report That President Yoweri Museveni Received Chinese COVID Vaccination Last Year
Ugandan Health Minister June Aceng responded to a recent Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday that alleged President Yoweri Museveni and his inner circle all received preferential access to Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccinations last year, when a shipment of 4,000 doses was brought into the country ...
Rwandan President Paul Kagame Channels the Growing Outrage in Africa Over Vaccine Hoarding by Wealthy Countries
There's a real disconnect in how people in the Global North and South are framing the vaccine inequity crisis. In the U.S., Europe, and Japan, the bulk of the news coverage on the issue focuses on the impact of Chinese and ...