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.
Chinese People in Africa: An Inside View Into Their Daily Lives (Translation) Part 2 – Algeria
Chinese law magazine "Rule of Law Weekly" interviewed six Chinese people who are working in Africa. Each individual works in a different country and they all have a story to tell. The following is the second installment in the six-part series. Algeria Rule of Law weekly reporter Gao ...
Will Western Media Report Good News About the Chinese in Africa?
Recently I met with a journalist from a major British media outlet here in Johannesburg. I love having conversations with my journalist friends because from them I can see how the world is going to be informed about China-Africa related topics. I am always curious of what interests western ...
China's Role in the Illegal African Ivory Trade
Elephant and rhino poaching top the agenda again on the show this week following a pair of very high-profile media stories from the New York Times and National Geographic TV. There seems to be a growing awareness in the West, or at least among ...
Zambia and Bostwana Push Back Against the Chinese
If you are curious as to what a bad week for China's diplomatic agenda in Africa looks like, then last week would be it. First, the Zambian government announced that it had finally had enough of the allegations of labor abuses and sub-standard working ...
"Sinophobia" on the Rise in Lesotho
Lesotho is one of Africa's smallest countries and is often over-looked by its larger, all-surrounding neighbor, South Africa. However, several interesting phenomena are occurring in Lesotho that warrant closer inspection. In a country wracked by grinding poverty where almost a quarter of the population ...
John Kerry on US-China-Africa relations
In his Senate confirmation hearings, Washington's new top diplomat John Kerry used some historically loaded language when it came to describing the Chinese in Africa. He will have a very steep learning curve on this issue when he takes office this week | Even ...
Unrest in China's 'Chocolate City'
The mysterious death of a Nigerian man on June 18 while being held in police custody set off another wave of unrest among African migrants in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. The crowd, estimated to be around a thousand, protested in the streets in the area known as 'Chocolate ...
With An Eye on China, The U.S. Re-Orients Its Policy in Africa
The United States announces a new foreign policy platform for Africa that is eerily similar to China's 'aid not trade' position | Two of China's largest telecom manufacturers get a two-year ban from Algeria for corruption | The pros & cons of China's ambitious stadium diplomacy agenda in Africa and ...
Anti-African Discrimination on the Rise in China
At least in the governmental level, promoting “people-to-people exchange” between China and Africa was mentioned all the time. However, most of the people-to-people interactions between Chinese and Africans are not through government initiatives of sending a group of African students to a Chinese university in Zhejiang Province, or dispatching a ...
3Qi: China's Landmark Sicomines Deal in the DR Congo
The controversial 2007 Sicomines infrastructure-for-natural resources deal between China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a milestone in Sino-Africa ties as it's one of the largest agreements of its kind on record. Originally valued at 9 ...