Category: Diplomacy
Nigeria’s House Speaker Rallies Other Legislative Leaders Across Africa in New Appeal for Debt Relief
Nigeria's outspoken Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, is mobilizing his legislative counterparts in half a dozen other African countries, including Kenya, South Africa, and Ethiopia, to speak out on the need for immediate debt relief and even outright debt cancellation.
China’s Top Diplomat for Sub-Saharan Africa Details Four Priorities for Chinese Foreign Policy on the Continent
China's diplomatic lead for sub-Saharan Africa, Wu Peng, published a lengthy statement on Kenya's Capital FM radio website on Sunday, detailing Beijing's four main priorities for its foreign policy in Africa. Wu is the former ambassador to Kenya and now the ...
It May Seem Odd to a Lot of People in Africa But Taiwan is a Really Big Issue for Chinese Diplomacy on the Continent
It's safe to say that what's happening in Taiwan these days is not a paramount concern for most African stakeholders. But you wouldn't know that from the emphasis that senior Chinese officials, including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, put on the issue in their bilateral talks with ...
Foreign Policy Elder Statesman Herman Cohen Explains Why China is “Not a Problem for the U.S.” in Africa
Former United States diplomat Herman J. Cohen is one of Washington's foreign policy elder statesmen. Ambassador Cohen served as the U.S. envoy to Gambia and Senegal in the late 1970s and then later as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the George H.W. Bush ...
While China’s International Relations Cool Elsewhere, They’re Warming Up in Africa
Perceptions of China around the world are growing increasingly negative. Not surprisingly, public opinion in the U.S. has plummeted and although Europe seems more divided on the issue, it's safe to say that the likes of Macron, Johnson, and Merkel are hesitant at best about deepening their ...
Episode #500! Reflections on Ten Years of Covering China-Africa Relations
On this special 500th episode of the China in Africa Podcast, Eric & Cobus join Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn on the popular Sinica podcast to reflect on the past ten years of China-Africa relations. ...
Taiwan’s New Rep Office in Somaliland Donates Relief Supplies
Just weeks after it opened, Taiwan's new representative office in the self-declared state of Somaliland embarked on its first foray into African "donation diplomacy" by providing local officials with humanitarian supplies and then leveraging the event for public diplomacy benefits on social media.
China’s Ambassador to Ethiopia is the Latest High Profile Envoy to Rotate Out
China's outgoing ambassador to Ethiopia, Tan Jian, stopped by the Foreign Ministry in Addis Ababa on Wednesday to say good-bye to Foreign Affairs Minister Gedu Andargachew. https://twitter.com/mfaethiopia/status/1305948309249556482
Nigeria’s President Buhari Responds to Debt Critics: “We Just Have to Take Loans to do Rail, Roads and Power”
President Muhammadu Buhari finally weighed on the debate currently raging in Nigeria over the government's decision to borrow billions of dollars, including from China, to build badly-needed infrastructure. “We have so many challenges with infrastructure. We just have to take loans ...
CCP “Training Class” With Congo’s Ruling Party Highlights Deepening Chinese Party-to-Party Engagement in Africa
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is steadily making inroads with Africa's ruling parties by convening seminars like the one held earlier this month with the Republic of Congo's incumbent Party of Labor. In this virtual session, or a "training class" according to the CCP, some ...
U.S. & Chinese State-Run Media Channels Go At Each Other in a Seemingly Fruitless Effort to Sway African Public Opinion
With relations between the United States and China rapidly deteriorating, each country's state-run propaganda outlets are ramping up cynical coverage of the other in an apparent attempt to sway international public opinion against their respective rivals. Two reports published this week, ...
StarTimes’ African Voice Actors Are the Newest Faces of Chinese Soft Power
The hugely popular Chinese-owned African pay-TV service StarTimes has always tried to put some distance between itself and the Chinese government, reminding anyone who asks that it is a private enterprise. Regardless of its status, the company is nonetheless a powerful ...