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Category: Soft Power

Chinese Astronauts Reach Out to African Kids

Three Chinese astronauts are holding a live chat with African youth directly from China's orbiting space station today. The live Q&A session, scheduled for 11:00 GMT, is arguably a powerful soft power play on a continent where youth interest in space exploration and other forms ...

“New” Poll Reaffirms China Far Less Popular Than the U.S. as World Leader

The same week that a pan-African survey revealed that China, for the first time, outperformed the United States in overall favorability, another poll comparing the two major powers, this time by the geopolitical risk consultancy Eurasia Group Foundation, came out with very ...

Equatorial Guinea Media Donation Highlights a Key Chinese Soft Power Strategy

China is making diplomatic inroads in Equatorial Guinea via an old tactic: donating broadcasting equipment. This comes as the West African country faces a lot of U.S. pressure due to fears that it might host China’s first Atlantic military base.

China’s Zero-COVID Policy and Travel Restrictions Leaves Thousands of Young Africans in Limbo

With China's borders all but sealed and no prospect of reopening soon as long as strict COVID-19 mitigation protocols are in effect, tens of thousands of African students are left wondering what's going to happen to their education at Chinese universities. ...

The Chinese Future of African Television

In December 2021, the U.S. confirmed that President Joe Biden will boycott the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in February. But already before the end of November, China had signaled it was working towards lessening the public diplomacy fallout of such gestures. As part of the ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Top State Department Official Says China’s Debt Relief Offer to Sri Lanka is “Not Enough”

Another senior U.S. diplomat has accused China of not doing enough to resolve Sri Lanka’s debt renegotiation, a sign that the island’s financial crisis is increasingly being framed geopolitically.
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland said: “What China has offered so far is not enough. We need to see credible and specific assurances that they will meet the IMF standard of debt relief.”

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President Samia Suluhu Hassan Inaugurates Tanzania’s New Chinese-Financed/Built National Defense College

China's campaign to build critical government infrastructure in Africa (aka "Building Diplomacy") marked another accomplishment on Sunday when Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who also happens to be the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, commissioned the new National Defense College in Dar es Salaam.

China To Upgrade Equipment at Somalia’s Government-run Media Outlets

China's newly arrived ambassador to Somalia, Fei Shengchao, visited the broadcasting facilities of Radio Mogadishu and the Somali National Television last week and promised to help the government-run broadcasters to upgrade their outdated equipment. 

One of China’s Most Powerful Political Leaders, Wang Yang, Meets Separately With Legislators From Brazzaville and Kinshasa

Wang Yang, a member of China's powerful Politburo and president of the country's rubber-stamp legislature, held separate meetings with legislative leaders from both sides of the Congo river. In Beijing, Wang held talks with Edouard Mokolo Wa Mpombo, first ...

First-Ever African Students Forum Convenes In Beijing

Students from 36 different African countries gathered in Beijing on Sunday to take part in the first-ever African students' forum organized by the China-Africa Institute with the support of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, one of the country's leading public policy think tanks. ...

China’s Vaccine Diplomacy: Soft Power Lessons from Latin America

By Dr. Álvaro Mendez, Co-Director & Senior Associate Fellow, Global South Unit at LSE IDEAS In early 2021, Beijing launched a diplomatic campaign to promote China’s COVID-19 vaccines with the aim of winning friends and cutting deals in ...
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