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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With No End in Sight, Livelihoods in Kenya Now at Risk Due to COVID-19 Trade Crisis
With China's factories and ports still struggling to get back up to speed, the massive disruptions to the global supply chain are being felt disproportionately among small-to-medium-sized enterprises in countries like Kenya. Inventories are running so low now in a rapidly ...
It’s Official: South Africa Is in Recession and COVID-19 Is Making Things Much Worse
The South African government confirmed what investors had long suspected: the economy slipped into recession at the end of last year. New GDP data released on Tuesday by Stats SA reveals the economy is officially in recession and growing at the slowest rate since the financial crisis ...
While South Africans Prepare to Evacuate, China’s Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe Tells Anxious Parents It’s Better Their Kids Remain in Wuhan
China's Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhao Baogang, convened a meeting with the parents of students currently stuck in Wuhan at the embassy in Harare on Tuesday. Amid reports of dwindling food supplies and worsening mental health conditions confronting many of the students under quarantine, the parents are ...
“Evacuation Details Under Wraps so We Can’t Spill It to the Media”
The 151 South Africans who have signed up to be evacuated from Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, are anxiously awaiting details about when the operation will take place. At present, they don't even have basic information, for example when they're expected to be at the ...
Isolated, Alienated and Stigmatized in Kenya
One day, hopefully soon, scientists will find a cure for COVID-19 and things will start to get back to normal. Planes will start to fly, ports will reopen and people on both sides will try to get back to where they were just a couple of months ...
South African Agriculture Struggles Amid COVID-19 Trade Disruptions
John Purchase, CEO of the South African agriculture chamber of commerce, Agbiz, spoke with CNBC on Monday about the impact that worsening trade disruptions are having on the local agricultural sector. Purchase said farmers are already starting to experience financial losses, particularly since products like the grapes ...
Chinese in Kenya Face Stigmatization and Discrimination Due to COVID-19
Chinese expatriates in Kenya and other African countries are becoming increasingly stigmatized by local populations fearful of contracting COVID-19. In major cities, ethnic Chinese people of all nationalities say they're confining themselves to their homes to avoid increasingly common confrontations. So ...
South Africa’s Plan to Evacuate Its Nationals From Wuhan Takes Shape
A multi-agency task force is designing the plan to safely evacuate 151 South African nationals from the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. The president announced the evacuation last week but did not specify precisely when it would take place. There's some speculation that it may ...
China Turns up the Pressure on Eswatini to Abandon Taiwan
The tiny landlocked kingdom of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, is now the last country in Africa to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. This is a very big sticking point for the Chinese who are adamant about isolating Taiwan in Africa ...
African Admiration for Some of China’s Authoritarian Methods
One of the interesting themes to emerge from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is how a sizable number of Africans on social media express admiration for the Chinese government's methods of enforcement and population control. For example, in this video shared above, armed Chinese policy forcibly detains an ...
Price Gouging, Illegal Sales to China Make it Difficult for Africans to Protect Themselves Against Infection
Face masks, hand sanitizers and other protective gear against infection from the deadly COVID-19 are becoming harder to find in many African cities as speculators hoard supplies and sell them overseas. Meantime, when they are available, prices have reportedly surged so high in some pharmacies putting them ...
With Inventories Running Low, Businesses Across Africa Worry About What’s Next
The near-halt in aviation and shipping links between China and Africa is causing severe disruptions in the supply chain that stocks the inventories of countless businesses across the continent. Merchants of all sizes and in all sectors are now scrambling to find other suppliers to replace the ...