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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Developing Countries Have Had Enough of the U.S.-China Feud
The prevailing narrative among large swathes of the conservative media in the United States is that Washington and Beijing are now engaged in a new "Cold War." U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in fact, suggests that the current confrontation with China is actually even ...
Rethinking China’s Participation in African Agricultural Development in the Post-COVID-19 Era
This article was co-authored by Duncan Chando, a Nairobi-based international development consultant Africa was already facing food insecurity and agricultural underdevelopment prior to COVID-19. In 2018 studies showed that Sub-Saharan Africa was the world’s most food-insecure region, hosting 239 million ...
China-Africa Trade Update with Walter Ruigu
Two-way China-Africa trade fell sharply in the first half of the year to $82 billion, down 20% from the same time last year. Trade between the two regions has been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ...
China’s Surprisingly Durable Reputation in Africa
Donald Trump famously said that he could "stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody" and not "lose any voters." Despite all that's happened over the past 3.5 years of his presidency, the president's poll numbers have remained largely intact, proving that statement to be ...
Zimbabwe Government Responds to Public Outrage Over Chinese Coal Mining in Hwange National Park
In a surprise reversal, the Zimbabwean government announced an immediate ban on all mining activities in the country's five national parks. The move was in response to widespread outrage over the government's decision to allow two Chinese companies to begin coal mining operations in the Hwange National ...
Somaliland President Says Ties With Taiwan “Bonded by Shared Democratic Values and Freedoms”
The president of the self-declared state of Somaliland, Muse Bihi Abdi, published a short video statement on Wednesday following the opening of a new representative office in Taiwan. President Abdi acknowledged that the Horn of Africa with its ...
Jonathan Fulton: China’s Proposed Strategic Partnership With Iran is “Overstated”
Jonathan Fulton, a leading China-Persian Gulf scholar, warned U.S. policymakers not to misread China's proposed strategic partnership with Iran, which has sparked widespread concern in Washington. Fulton testified towards the end of a day-long hearing on Wednesday organized by the U.S.-China ...
Chinese Embassy in Burkina Faso Admonishes Hiker and Tells Him to Go Home
The Chinese embassy in Burkina Faso took the rare step of issuing a public statement on its website that called on 26-year-old hiker Lu Jiabin to give up his mission to cross the entire African continent by foot and go home.
Somaliland Opens New Representative Office in Taiwan
The self-declared state of Somaliland opened its new representative office in Taiwan today in a move that is bound to further anger officials in both Somalia and China. In his address at the opening ceremony, Somaliland’s chief representative in ...
China’s Overall Approval Rating in Africa Dips But Not by Much According to New Survey
Positive public perceptions of China in several of Africa's largest countries have fallen in recent years but only by a little, according to the latest results from the independent, non-partisan public opinion research agency Afrobarometer. In Nigeria, public perceptions about whether ...
ICYMI: 7 Myths Debunked About Chinese Engagement in Africa’s Hydroelectric Market
For some additional context about Chinese energy engagement in Africa, particularly in the hydroelectric sector where the role of various Chinese stakeholders is often overstated and exaggerated, it's worthwhile to refer back to a paper written in 2017 by China-Africa Research Initiative Director Deborah Brautigam and Ohio State ...
Widespread Outrage Over Chinese Businessman Named as Chief in Ghanaian Village
The appointment of Sun Qiang, a Chinese businessman, to the position of Development Chief (Nkosuohene) in the small southern Ghanaian town of Kwahu-Abetifi has prompted widespread outrage. Sun was awarded the honor after he donated $5,000 to build a new school ...