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.
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Kilimall: The African Start-Up with Chinese Characteristics
Named after Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, Kilimall was the first Chinese e-commerce company to enter Africa, selling products that span various categories including electronics, clothing, home appliances, fashion bags, make-up, and more. Since its founding in 2014, it has grown ...
Mobbed at Tiananmen Square, Stunned in China’s Harbin
“We must have made a grave mistake by even taking the decision to enter square as people of color. Blacks are a rare sight in China and Chinese love seeing blacks and Africans in particular, in their midst.” Nigerian journalist Soni Daniel commenting a ...
Zimbabwe Gets China, India Loans to Boost Power Generation
Zimbabwe has obtained three separate loans of just over US$108,3 million from the Export-Import Bank of China and Export-Import Bank of India to be used for power generation projects and broadband expansion. Government tied a loan agreement with the Export-Import ...
Chinese Tech Startups Are Targeting Emerging Markets to Make Their Mark
Compared with their Western competitors, Chinese companies have a particular edge in developing regions. Companies like Alibaba and Tencent, which started in the late 1990s, have already overcome challenges facing developing and emerging markets today. These countries often have inefficient payment systems, poor logistics networks and ...
Chinese Propaganda Promotes Beijing’s “Pragmatism” Over Washington’s “Idealism”
Global Times is one of China's more nationalistic media outlets that often tests new propaganda and media messaging. This article was written Global Times writer Wang Cong in Kasane, Botswana. "The US continues to fail to understand the real needs of ...
More Evidence of Chinese Agricultural Buyers Shifting Away From US Suppliers as Mexican Pecan Exports to China Surged 3,000%
In the face of the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S., many of China’s pecan buyers have shifted their purchasing habits to neighboring Mexico. In fact, Mexico’s pecan exports to China increased by more than 3000% in 2018 relative to the previous year, with ...
‘White South Africans’ Starts Trending on Twitter After Woman’s Comments About Hong Kong Protests
A white South African woman who moved to Hong Kong has become a topic of discussion on social media after a video of her making a plea for Hong Kong protests to stop went viral. The young woman dressed in ...
The Unintended Religious Consequence of Chinese Investment in Africa
For many of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese who live and work in Africa, life is often is not easy. Low pay, long hours and extended assignments in unfamiliar cultures often lead to feelings of isolation and disillusionment. Connections with friends and family ...
Deborah Brautigam: No Evidence of Chinese Debt Traps in Africa
Johns Hopkins University professor and director of the China-Africa Research Initiative in Washington, D.C., Deborah Brautigam, joins Eric & Cobus this week to discuss accusations that China engages in so-called "debt trap diplomacy." The "debt trap" narrative, also commonly referred to as ...
U.S. Struggles to Keep up With China's Commercial Expansion in Africa
Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Aubrey Hurby joins Eric and Cobus to discuss her new report on how the United States can catch up, or "challenge," China's commercial expansion in Africa. The bottom line, Aubrey writes, is that the U.S. can no longer be ...
China's Distant Fishing Fleet Is Decimating What's Left of Ghana's Fish Stocks
Over-fishing by illegally-run foreign trawlers is decimating what's left of Ghana's fish stocks. In fact, the situation is so severe, that experts believe as early as next year, entire categories of fish that once sustained the local Ghanian market will be gone. ...
Africa Aims to Avoid Becoming Collateral Damage in U.S.-China Trade War
Africa's commodity-dependent economies are extremely vulnerable to the current uncertainties roiling global markets, specifically the heightening trade tensions between the U.S. and China. With the tariffs taking their toll on China's slowing economy and the U.S. becoming even more assertive with other countries, African ...