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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It’s Time We Talk About All That Chinese Debt in Africa
There are growing calls for international lenders to cancel or at least reschedule significant portions of Africa’s debt as economies one after across the continent another sink into recession as a result of the worsening COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier this month,
Tweet of the Day: China’s Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe Uses Less Than Diplomatic Language to Describe the U.S. President
China's typically non-combative deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhao Baogang, revealed his feelings about Donald Trump, accusing the U.S. president of being "arrogant" and "lying all the time." This is a rather sharp rhetorical escalation for Zhao, who has until now focused his social media account on ...
Chinese Companies in Zimbabwe Pay for Major Renovation of Harare’s Main COVID-19 Care Center
Workers at Harare's central medical center, Wilkins Hospital, are putting the final touches on a major renovation project that was funded by Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe. It's not immediately clear which companies were involved in the half-million-dollar upgrade of the ...
Huawei Joins COVID-19 Relief Effort in East Africa With High Tech Donations
The Chinese telecom giant Huawei is stepping up its CSR efforts in East Africa to support governments in the region with various technology solutions to aid their fight to contain the outbreak of COVID-19. These donations, and the accompanying media coverage, ...
Beijing’s “Mask Diplomacy” Now a Simmering Issue in the Increasingly Acrimonious U.S.-China Relationship
U.S. policymakers, journalists and other Washington, D.C. stakeholders have noted with growing alarm how China is leveraging the distribution of masks and other PPE used to contain COVID-19 to advance its diplomatic agenda around the world. There is a sense of ...
The U.S. Wants to be Very Clear That It, Not China, is the World’s Largest Provider of Humanitarian Aid
Amid headlines of Jack Ma's donation of COVID-19 PPE in Africa and a steady stream of news stories characterizing the U.S. as going "AWOL" in the fight against the global pandemic, the U.S. Department of State wants to remind everyone that America remains ...
China Ramps Up “Mask Diplomacy” in Africa
The Chinese government appears to be taking full advantage of the country's newfound ability to produce extraordinary amounts of masks and other COVID-19 Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and using that gear to advance its diplomatic agenda in Africa and other regions around the world. ...
African Futurist Jakkie Cilliers Looks Beyond Today’s COVID-19 Crisis
“African economies are staring at an abyss,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed earlier this week in a desperate appeal to the international community for aid and debt relief to offset the ruinous effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Kenya Star Newspaper Fact Checks Allegation China Sending COVID-19 Infected Mattresses to Africa
Quick update on the story we told you about yesterday regarding the fake news posts circulating around the African internet warning people that China is sending mattresses and clothing infected with COVID-19 from Wuhan and other cities. The fact-checking team at ...
A Simple Twitter Typo Sparked Accusations That Zimbabwe Officials Made Off With Jack Ma’s Donated COVID-19 Safety Gear
Someone on either the social media team at the Chinese embassy in Harare or the Ministry of Health in Harare made a critical typo that prompted immediate speculation that Zimbabwean officials had fleeced the COVID-19 protective suits donated by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma.
Africa’s Knocking on the Wrong Door for Debt Relief
The whole discussion going on today over calls from African leaders to write off or reschedule their countries' debts feels completely disconnected from reality. For some reason, they're focusing all of their attention on the G20 leaders summit that's going to take place today and comments ...
It’s Time to Talk About All That Debt
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took the initiative on Tuesday to talk about the proverbial elephant in the room: with Africa's economies spiraling downwards due to the worsening COVID-19 crisis, how are they ever going to be able to pay back all that money they owe ...