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
With an Eye on China, South Africa Keeps Ports and Fishing Industry Open During Lockdown
While most South Africans are required to stay indoors during the ongoing 21-day lockdown to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, fishermen and dock-workers are still on the job. Both the seafood industry and the country's ports were deemed vital to the national economy and permitted to ...
Africans Worry About Quality of Donated Chinese COVID-19 Aid Following Reports of Defective Masks in Europe
Earlier this week I wrote a story about the reputational risks associated with China's so-called "Mask Diplomacy" initiative where it's donating millions of PPE to countries around the world. The basic premise of the story is that if everything goes well, then China wins, but ...
As South Africans Begin Their Lockdown Period, Compatriots Back in Wuhan Offer Some Advice on How to Cope
Now that the 114 South Africans who were evacuated from Wuhan last month have been cleared and allowed to return home, Eyewitness News interviewed a number of students and other expatriates who stayed behind in China to find out how they're coping with the difficulties of daily ...
China’s State Media Promotes Use of Traditional Chinese Medicine to Treat COVID-19 in Africa
Chinese official media is actively promoting the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine remedies in Africa to treat COVID-19 despite the fact that the WHO is on record ...
Rebound in Chinese Manufacturing Provides a Small, Badly Needed Boost to African Oil Prices
New data confirming that China's manufacturing sector is slowly coming back to life helped to give a badly needed boost to African commodity and currency prices on Tuesday. China's Purchasing Managers Index, a key metric that measures factory activity, jumped to ...
China’s COVID-19 Donation Spree Picks Up Pace in Africa
China's embassies across Africa are coordinating both public and private donations to local stakeholders battling the spread of COVID-19. The donations appear to be part of a larger Chinese strategy to raise Beijing's profile as a leading provider of humanitarian assistance, particularly to lesser developed countries.
China’s Not Getting Its Money Back from Africa Any Time Soon, So Why Not Take the Lead in Debt Relief?
As economic conditions worsen across the continent, it's becoming increasingly evident that African governments will not be able to service the tens of billions of dollars in debt they've taken on over the past decade. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and ...
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 ...