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.
Related Posts
Ma Tianjie: After Guangzhou, 3 Things Will Shape China-Africa “Brotherhood”
Ma Tianjie is one of China's most well-known environmental journalists and the creator of the popular "Chublic Opinion" blog that tracks Chinese public opinion on current events. In his latest column on the always-interesting Panda Paw Dragon Claw blog, Ma ...
Amid Political Turmoil in Nigeria, Speaker of the House Femi Gbajabiamila Emerges as a Key Player in Managing the Crisis With China
Femi Gbajabiamila has emerged as a central player in managing his country's various recent crises with China, including the uproar over the arrival of a 15-member Chinese medical team, and the ongoing disputes over reports of discrimination and maltreatment of Nigerians in the southern Chinese city of ...
Reports of Arson Attacks Against Chinese Businesses in Nigeria and Arrest of Archbishop Protesting Treatment of Africans in Guangzhou Highlights Growing Tensions
Videos are spreading rapidly on Nigerian social media, purportedly showing hundreds of young men burning down Chinese-owned businesses and factories in the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone outside of Lagos in southwestern Nigeria. Although these videos were shot last week and posted ...
Even Though It’s Been Repeatedly Proven False, U.S. Politicians Just Love That Chinese “Debt Trap” Theory
Gyude Moore has clearly had enough of U.S. politicians promoting the debunked Chinese "debt trap" theory in Africa. The former Liberian public works minister and now a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, ...
Brookings Scholar Yun Sun Provides a Road Map For Chinese Debt Relief in Africa
There's growing anticipation over how China will respond to Africa's calls for debt relief amid the worsening COVID-19 crisis that is ravaging economies across the continent. So far, there have only been a few hints as to how China will proceed, ...
The South African Human Rights Commission Joins Calls for an Independent Investigation Into Allegations of Maltreatment of African Migrants in China
The South African Human Rights Commission is joining the push for an independent investigation of the alleged mistreatment of African migrants in China, including forced testing, quarantining and "other inhuman treatment, due to the COVID-19 outbreak," the independent group said in a statement this week: ...
The China-Mediterranean Observer: COVID-19 Rattles an Already Volatile Region
As cases of COVID-19 have increased, the pandemic has accordingly become the main topic of discussion in the media of the wider Mediterranean region as many are worried about the health and economic damages that it will cause. Indeed, regardless of the geographical position, there has emerged ...
From Race to Debt to COVID-19: A Conversation with Ambassador Kuang Weilin on Current Issues in China-Africa Relations
For much of the past two decades, China’s engagement in Africa has been steady, rather predictable and largely uneventful. That is, until this year. The China-Africa relationship is facing an unprecedented mix of challenges today ...
Guangdong Province Vice-Governor Meets With African Students at a Local University
The Vice-Governor of Guangdong province, Zhang Xin, visited the campus of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou this weekend to meet with African students and to discuss a new open letter published by the provincial government, which re-states its policy of treating everyone, foreigners and Chinese, equally.
China’s #2 Diplomat in Zimbabwe Pioneers New Public Diplomacy Tool: An Open Zoom Chat
Zhao Baogang, China's deputy ambassador in Zimbabwe, went on Twitter over the weekend to ask if anyone was interested in joining him for a group chat on Zoom to discuss the recent allegations of mistreatment and discrimination against Africans in Guangzhou. "Many are interested in china-africa relations,we ...
Chinese Officials Respond to Allegations of African Discrimination by Showing Videos of Normal, Daily Life in China
Chinese embassies and diplomats in Africa responded to this weekend's surge of online videos that purportedly show discrimination against Africans in China by posting their own videos depicting African residents in cities like Guangzhou freely going about their daily lives without problems.
A New Wave of Anger and Frustration Over the Treatment of Africans in China Sweeps Across the Continent
This weekend, African politicians in several countries convened press conferences, took to Twitter and signed joint letters of protest to register their outrage over allegations of poor treatment of African migrants in China. This seems to have been provoked by a new wave of videos and other ...