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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The African Migrant Crisis in Guangzhou Emerges as New Point of Contention Between the U.S. and China
The United States government further escalated its denunciations of China for reported instances of discrimination and xenophobia against African migrants in Guangzhou. Washington's top diplomat for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Tibor Nagy, posted his views on Monday and described the situation over the weekend in Guangzhou ...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Moves to Calm Tensions With African Diplomats Over the Recent Crisis in Guangzhou
Diplomatic tensions between China and a number of African governments and institutions appear to have considerably following the crisis over the weekend in Guangzhou where African migrants and residents were forcibly removed from their homes and hotels. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang ...
A Western (read US) Role in What’s Happening in Guangzhou Emerges as a Key Chinese Message Point
One of the key themes to emerge from China's rebuttal to well-documented instances of maltreatment of African migrants in Guangzhou centers around the role that Western governments are playing to foment discord in China and in its ties with African countries. ...
An Unprecedented Rupture in China-Africa Relations
China-Africa relations face an unprecedented crisis after several days of evictions and maltreatment of African migrants by landlords and local authorities in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. Beginning late Thursday China time, photos, videos, and other accounts began to surface ...
China’s Response to the Crisis in Guangzhou is Missing One Critical Element: Emotion
The Chinese response to the ongoing crisis in Guangzhou has been dry, technical and, at times, defensive. What it's missing, though, is emotion and a recognition that something has gone wrong. Chinese stakeholders don't seem to fully understand that their old ...
Slow to Act at First, China Now Ramping Up Its Response to the Burgeoning Diplomatic Crisis
The Chinese government appears to have been caught off guard by the speed with which the diplomatic crisis ensued following the initial wave of evictions of African migrants from their homes/hotels in Guangzhou that began last Thursday. The first response came ...
Daily Nation Headline Highlights the Dramatic Change in China’s Narrative in Africa
By Saturday morning, the photos and videos that had dominated so much of the discussion on social media had made its way to mainstream press outlets in Africa, with dramatic headlines like this one in the popular Daily Nation newspaper. What's ...
Nigeria’s Speaker of the House Publishes Video Admonishing Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian About the Situation in Guangzhou
In a notable break with diplomatic protocol, Nigeria's Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, published a 2:20 minute excerpt of his meeting on Saturday with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian. Normally, when an ambassador is called by a host government to ...
This Image of Evicted African Men Sleeping on the Streets of Guangzhou Went Viral Early in the Crisis
A photo of visibly cold African men wearing surgical masks sleeping on the streets of Guangzhou after reportedly being evicted from their homes or hotel rooms went viral early in this crisis, sparking widespread anger among African Twitter and Facebook users. ...
Initial Reflections on an Unprecedented Crisis in China-Africa Relations
The widespread evictions and mistreatment of African migrants in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has caused a serious rupture in China-Africa relations. Chinese ambassadors across Africa have been called into various foreign ministries to explain why so many of their ...
How is China Going to Handle Debt Relief in Africa?
With economic conditions across Africa rapidly deteriorating, leaders across the continent are escalating their calls for the international community to provide emergency debt relief. Until this week, though, those appeals have been broadly targeted, not singling out any particular country ...
WHO Fight With the U.S. Highlights Why Africa is So Important to China
African leaders are rallying to the defense of World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus following Tuesday's broadside attack from U.S. President Donald Trump against the health body for failing to move fast enough to contain the COVID-19 outbreak when it first emerged in China ...