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.
Why the U.S. Just Doesn’t Have a Chance Against the Chinese in Africa
No doubt Africans across the continent likely reacted with puzzlement to one of the latest revelations from the stream of leaked United States diplomatic cables from the controversial whistle-blower website Wikileaks. After a century of aggressive United States ...
Wikileaks Reveals Failures of Western Aid in Africa
It really shouldn’t comes as a huge surprise that African governments have become tired of the West’s indulgent aid and development programs that place a significantly higher emphasis on “process” over actual results. No doubt though that the latest damning Wikileaks release will shock, SHOCK, many in the Washington aid ...
The Sino-U.S. Soft Power Showdown
Travel to almost any African capital and even before you make it from the airport to downtown there is a very high likelihood you will pass a Chinese construction project along the way. From the new terminal at Jomo Kenyatta ...
China in Africa Podcast: “Aid, Trade & Some Indignation”
Sure, there’s a vigorous debate over just how many hundreds of billions of dollars the West has sent to Africa in the form of “aid” over the past half-century since colonial independence. Some estimates put it in the trillions, while the OECD and others claim it’s merely in the ...
Les Chinois En Afrique
Click for full-size image The French radio network “Radio France Internationale” has published a very interesting interactive map detailing Chinese investments, populations and infrastructure projects across Africa. Although the map is in French it’s ...
Chinese Relationship and Marriage Customs in Africa
There are no precise figures on the size of the Chinese population in Africa. Given the fluidity of this immigrant population and the weak immigration controls in most African societies reliable numbers are just impossible to achieve. There are very sophisticated networks ...
[TRANSLATION] The Personal Challenge of Being Chinese in Africa
For most people, the Chinese engagement with Africa is an enigma. The combination of these two peoples, cultures and, increasingly their politics, are just so foreign to most of us that we do not have the necessary reference points to form an opinion. Instead, what emerges, is a series of ...
Chinese Business Operations in the DR Congo
By any measure, the DRC is one of the most difficult places on earth to do business. Let’s put aside, for now, the problems associated with the war in the east as that’s not really the issue here. Instead, we’re going to focus on what it actually takes to ...
China & Africa: Getting to Know Each Other
China’s embrace of Africa has produced some stunning statistics. The numbers look great pretty much across the board.From trade volumes to foreign investment to the growing popularity of Chinese ministerial junkets, the data all looks great. No, in fact, ...
Why China Will Not Dominate FDI in Gabon
Gabon is that tiny country along the central west Africa that is often overlooked by its larger, more controversial and considerably more powerful neighbors. With only 1.5 million people, Gabon is one of Africa’s smallest countries. Along with its modest population, Gabon also maintains a low-profile. Rarely does it make ...