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's Ministry of Commerce is going to allow private companies and other "non-state entities" to buy 20% more oil next year in a move that will be enthusiastically welcomed by beleaguered oil-producing states, including many in Africa, currently suffering from persistently low prices. ...
Australia’s Billion Dollar Copper Export Business is Now in China’s Crosshairs, Can African Producers Get the Business?
Chinese media is hinting that copper may be the next Australian export to suffer from the worsening dispute between the two countries that began back in April when Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origin of COVID-19. Chinese authorities have already ...
How Does China’s Lending to Africa Compare to That of Other Emerging Market Countries?
London-based emerging markets strategist Gregory Smith posted an interesting thread on Twitter today that compared China's lending patterns in Africa to those of other emerging markets, particularly from the Persian Gulf region. Using World Bank charts, he showed that Chinese lending ...
China, Ethiopia Showcase Ties Following Trump’s “Blow Up the Dam” Comment
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A U.S. Military Withdrawal From Somalia Would Only Benefit Russia and China in the Region, Warns Oxford Researcher
President Donald Trump's reported request to withdraw the 650 to 800 U.S. military personnel stationed in Somalia would be a major setback for the U.S. in the Horn of Africa and would bolster Russia and China's growing influence in the region, cautioned Oxford University scholar ...
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Huawei unveiled its new Mate 40 smartphone on Friday that for the first time comes preinstalled with a built-in e-wallet that uses China's digital yuan or cryptocurrency. Although the Mate 40 will go on sale in most of Africa's ...
China Dominates Almost Every Layer of East Africa’s Mobile Technology Sector
Chinese technology permeates nearly every level of the East African mobile technology stack with the notable exception of operating systems that are still dominated by Google and Apple, according to a post by Kenya-based technology analyst Michael Kimani. While Kimani focused his analysis on ...
China Responds to Accusations That It’s Not Doing Enough To Help Resolve Zambia’s Escalating Debt Crisis
The Chinese government is responding to critics who charge that Beijing is not doing enough to resolve the rapidly escalating debt crisis in Africa, especially in Zambia. “We have signed debt-relief agreements with the majority of countries that have requested it, and are holding consultations with the remaining ...
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Africans Borrowed Heavily From China and Other Bilateral Creditors. Now That Debt is Getting Away From Them
Former U.S. Treasury official and current Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Brad Setser, is providing some of the sharpest, most insightful commentaries on the worsening debt crisis in Africa and how both China and the DSSI are contributing to the problem. ...