Reflections on the legacy of Jiang Zemin, China’s president from 1993 to 2003, who passed away on Wednesday, emphasized how he presided over a decade of explosive economic growth. Fewer have pointed out that he was also a key architect of China’s current relationship with Africa.
After the Mao era, emblematized by Chinese involvement in African anti-colonial struggles, the relationship went dormant as China focused on building economic ties ...
Category: construction
New Undersea Cable Will Link China to a Trio of Countries in Southeast Asia
Six telecom carriers from four countries in Asia signed an agreement to build a new regional undersea high bandwidth cable. The $300 million Asia Link Cable system will stretch 6,000 kilometers from southern China to the Philippines, Brunei and Singapore.
China Harbour Completes Construction of West Africa’s Largest Deep Water Port in Nigeria
The state-owned China Harbour Engineering Company completed construction of the $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Sea Port near Lagos and officially handed over the facility to its Nigerian partners. Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the new port will generate 200,000 jobs ...
One of China’s Largest BRI Builders Faces Economic Headwinds at Home
Business is booming for the China Communications Construction Company. It is one of the world's largest construction companies and built many of China's iconic BRI projects, including the controversial Port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka and the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya. Signed contracts jumped 22% in ...
Mnangagwa Says He’ll Send a Plane to China to Bring Back Engineers So They Can Finish Critical Infrastructure Projects
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he's willing to send charter planes to China to bring back engineers and other high-skilled infrastructure experts to Zimbabwe so they can finish critical infrastructure projects. The President made the offer during a tour of the ...
Chinese Contractors to Finish Building New Africa CDC HQ Ahead of Schedule
Chinese contractors are now three-quarters of the way done with the new headquarters of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa with construction running ahead of schedule. The new 90,000 square meter facility is ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Jiang Zemin Created the Africa-China Relationship As We Know It Today
China, Kenya Cut the Ribbon on Hugely Important Infrastructure Financing Experiment
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, together with Ambassador Zhou Pingjian, officially commissioned the $650 million Nairobi Expressway on Sunday. The project is gearing up to be the most important infrastructure financing test underway in Africa today. The 27-kilometer expressway was built and ...
China, Cambodia Deny Washington Post Report of New PLA Navy Base
Chinese and Cambodian officials were quick to dismiss a Washington Post report this week that claimed the Chinese are building a new base at the Ream naval base in Preah Sihanouk province. "Cambodia won’t allow the Chinese military to use it ...
Kenya’s New Nairobi Expressway is Popular. Its Tolls? Not So Much
It's been a week since Kenya's Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway opened to the public. The road itself is very popular, but comments on Twitter make clear that users aren't in love with the cost of accessing the road. The road is a
Speed is the One of the Key Hallmarks of Chinese Infrastructure Diplomacy in Africa
Chinese ambassador to the DR Congo, Zhu Jing, touted the rapid pace of construction of the new Kinsuka power station that's being built by Shanghai Power in the capital Kinshasa. Just 10 months after construction began, said Zhu on Twitter, the new station is ...
Nairobi Expressway Signals Shift in Belt and Road Financing
Kenya’s new Nairobi Expressway is finally open to traffic. Transport Minister James Macharia commissioned the new Chinese-built intra-city highway on Saturday, ahead of its upcoming official launch. The 27-kilometer road cost $668 million. How it recoups those costs will ...