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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Chinese official media coverage of Wang Yi's visit to Nigeria closely adhered to the Foreign Ministry's three priorities for its policy in Africa: 1) vaccine cooperation, 2) economic recovery and 3) a yet to be defined concept called "transformative development." ...
Editorial: Nairobi Expressway Toll Deal With Chinese Contractor Risks Creating Another “White Elephant”
The Business Daily Editorial Board warned the government that the proposed toll road pricing scheme for the new 27km Nairobi Expressway jeopardizes the financial stability of the project and risks creating another "white elephant" like the embattled Standard Gauge Railway. The ...
China’s Closing More Deals to Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines, But None So Far in Sub-Saharan Africa
The list of countries signing up to procure Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines is growing, largely in developing countries, according to the U.S. news site Axios. While there are two African countries on the list, Egypt and Morocco, it's notable that so far no sub-Saharan ...
Everybody Seems to Agree That Chinese Overseas Lending is Decreasing… But By How Much?
Analysts Agatha Kratz and Matthew Mingey from the China-focused research firm Rhodium Group challenged the findings of a controversial dataset produced by Boston University's Global Policy Development Center. While Kratz and Mingey agree that lending by China's two major policy banks, the China ...
It’s Not Entirely Clear if CGTN’s New Branding Campaign is Promoting a Country or a TV Channel
If you didn't know anything about CGTN, China's state-run international television network, it'd be easy to mistake their new promotional spot as a slickly-produced commercial for the Chinese government's engagement in Africa. Images of Chinese contractors dancing with locals, doctors ...
Safaricom’s Decision to Suspend Its Huawei-Powered 5G Network is Just a Business Story
It's going to be very tempting for a lot of people in Washington, D.C. to read the news that Kenya's leading telco, Safaricom, suspended the rollout of its new Huawei-powered 5G network as evidence that the company finally came to its senses about the dangers of using ...
Wang Yi’s Low-Profile Visit to Nigeria
Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up the first day of his weeklong tour to five Africa countries in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Monday. Wang made no public appearances and instead met with various Nigerian ministers including his counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama and Transportation Minister Rotimi ...
While Wang Yi is in Town, Nigeria FM Also Meets With Huawei Delegation
Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama met with a visiting delegation from the local office of the Chinese telecom equipment giant Huawei on Monday, the same day that he also welcomed visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Abuja.
There’s Growing Concern in Kenya Over the Fate of Jack Ma
The apparent disappearance of Alibaba founder Jack Ma is prompting growing concern in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa where the Chinese billionaire has recently built a strong following around his philanthropic ventures.
A China-Africa Angle Makes Its Way Into the Senate Run-Off Election in Georgia
Two conservative U.S. media outlets, Breitbart News and the National Review, used Democrat Senate candidate Jon Ossof's role in producing a 2015 China-Africa documentary for Al Jazeera English as purported evidence that the Georgia politician is purportedly sympathetic to ...
The China-Mediterranean Observer: How Will a New/Old Biden Mideast Policy Impact China’s Ambitions in the Region?
The killing of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the future of American foreign policy toward the Middle East under President Biden, and the tensions between France and the Muslim world are the three key topics of recent Chinese commentaries. The ...
Gyude Moore: “The Success or Failure of the AfCTA Will Be on Us and Us Alone”
On January 1, the long-held dream of creating a pan-African free trade zone became a reality with the launch of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA). What makes this project unique, according to Center for Global Development Senior Policy Fellow Gyude Moore, is that this is ...