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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Reframing the Chinese Debt Crisis in Africa
Many African civil society stakeholders worry that China is going to take advantage of the worsening economic crisis to seize their countries' strategic assets. It doesn't matter that there aren't actually any precedents for these seizures, in the current era of "alternative facts" if people believe it ...
Q&A: What’s It Like to be Black in China?
After the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests across the United States, Chinese multimedia journalist Daisy Xu wanted to find out more about how her compatriots regard Black people in China. This is an especially poignant issue ...
One Way or Another Someone’s Going to Pay For Africa’s Debts
A new poll of young Arab nationals in North Africa and the Middle East revealed the kind of numbers that give people like Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron nightmares. 87% of the 18-24 years old surveyed expressed concerns about unemployment and ...
At the UN, African Countries Steer Clear of Bitter Human Rights Feud Between China and U.S., European Countries
No African states joined the 39 countries that signed a German-sponsored joint statement at the United Nations on Tuesday that condemned China's human rights record in Xinjiang and expressed "grave concern" about "recent developments in Hong Kong." The bulk ...
China Fires Back at U.S.-German Joint Statement
China's ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, led the counter-attack against the United States/German-sponsored joint statement on Tuesday condemning China's human rights practices in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. "The U.S. and a few other countries’ attempt to smear ...
Polling: China’s Plunging Favorability in Advanced Economies Contrasts With Relative Stability in Africa
New polling data from the Pew Research Center reveals that public opinion about China in advanced economies in Europe, Asia, and the United States have sunk to historic lows. "In most countries, around three-quarters or more see the ...
Two Contrasting Views of U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s Recent Visit to North Africa
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper made his first official visit to Africa last week, visiting four countries in North Africa and the Mediterranean. Not surprisingly, Secretary Esper spoke at every opportunity about the risks posed by growing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent. ...
China’s New Ambassador to Kenya Visits Nairobi’s Military HQ
China's newly-arrived ambassador to Kenya, Zhou Pingjian, met on Tuesday with Kenya's defense chief, Monica Juma, at the military headquarters at Ulinzi House. The Chinese embassy in Nairobi did not publish any statement on the meeting so it's not entirely clear ...
Combatting Malaria in the Comoros Islands: How China Almost Got it Right
Back in 2007, China led an ambitious program to eradicate malaria in the Comoros Islands, a small island nation off the coast of Mozambique in southeastern Africa. And, for the most part, they were successful but it wasn't easy and, not ...
Africa’s Strategic Mineral Deposits Now at the Center of an Increasingly Fraught Great Power Competition
Iron ore, tantalum, cobalt, coltan, and a handful of other strategically important minerals and elements are at the center of an increasingly heated battle for the control of global supply chains among the world's largest economies. Leaders in Europe and the ...
Lots of Great China-Africa Webinars Scheduled for October
Although we may be a bit fatigued from all the Zoom calls and webinars that now fill our calendars every week, try not to miss some of the China-Africa themed events over the next few weeks. This week, Quartz Africa Editor ...
The U.S. Thinks It Has a Chance to Take on China’s Powerful Policy Banks
Conservative Republicans in the United States had long wanted to cut funding for the U.S. Export-Import Bank, calling it government-subsidized "corporate welfare." But as they're becoming more concerned about competition from China, many of those same Republicans are changing their tune and persuading ...