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 political calculations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made in agreeing to accept President Xi Jinping's invitation to visit may be far more nuanced than the prevailing narratives in the Israeli and U.S. media, which largely frame it around annoying Joe Biden.
Lots of Handshakes, Smiles and an Aircraft Carrier Framed Vietnam PM’s Visit to China
Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính wrapped up a jam-packed three-day visit to China on Tuesday with a meeting with President Xi Jinping while a giant U.S. aircraft carrier was docked back home near the central city of Da Nang. Vietnam's ...
A Primer on the Escalating Tensions in the South China Sea
The South China Sea is one of the world's most strategically vital maritime zones where more than $5 trillion of trade passes through each year -- a whopping 60% of the globe's total maritime commerce. It's also the epicenter of an ...
Welcome to the New Era Where China Writes the Rules
Everyone's hailing the Zambian debt restructuring agreement that was unveiled on Friday in Paris as a major breakthrough in debt relief for the world's poorest countries. While we don't have a lot of information about what's specifically stipulated in the deal, ...
Zambia’s Landmark Debt Deal Highlights China’s Success in Setting New Rules for Development Finance
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema looked visibly relieved following Friday's announcement that the country's creditor committee had finally reached an agreement to restructure $6.3 billion of bilateral external debt. The deal that took more than two years to finalize was unveiled by ...
Investors Cautiously Optimistic About Zambia Debt Deal, But Still Wary About China’s Role
Investors welcomed the news of Zambia's debt restructuring deal with a mini rally on Friday in the country's dollar-denominated bonds. Government bonds from Ghana, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also saw similar bumps prompted by new optimism their debt restructurings will follow Zambia's example.
Chinese Media Noticeably Quiet on Zambian Debt Deal
Most major financial news outlets in the U.S. and Europe featured prominent coverage of Friday's landmark Zambian debt restructuring deal but the story was barely mentioned in China. The official state-run Xinhua news agency published a short summary of the announcement but, ...
Hichilema Refutes Western Accusations China Was to Blame for Delays in Zambia’s Debt Restructuring
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema rejected longstanding accusations by Western governments and institutions that China was to blame for how long it took to reach a debt restructuring agreement. The president told Bloomberg TV after the deal was announced on Friday in ...
Vietnam PM Arrives in China for Visit as a U.S. Aircraft Carrier Arrives
Vietnam's legendary great power hedging strategy was on full display this weekend when the massive U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan arrived in the central city of Da Nang for a rare port of call -- in fact, only the third time that a U.S. aircraft carrier has docked ...
U.S. Insists Modi’s Visit Wasn’t About China… Except That It Was
The United States rejected suggestions that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three day visit to the United States last week was about leveraging New Delhi in Washington's rivalry against China. Although China was on the agenda in talks between Modi and ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: China’s New Green Energy Diplomacy in Africa
Over the past six months, there's been a noticeable increase in the number of green energy deals announced by Chinese private and state-owned enterprises in Africa. But unlike the earlier era of Chinese-financed infrastructure development in Africa, this new push into ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: China’s Special Envoy to UN Expressed Support for Argentina’s Claim on Falklands Islands
China’s special envoy to the UN, Geng Shuang, expressed support for Argentina’s claim on the Falklands Islands (known as the Malvinas in Argentina) and for a UN resolution calling on the UK and Argentina to resume negotiations about the island group’s future. Geng also called on countries to ...