Category: Social Media
African Leaders Declare Crisis in Guangzhou is “Sorted Out.” What Did We Learn?
Less than one week after alarming videos, photos and accounts of African migrants being forced out of their homes and hotels in the southern China city of Guangzhou, the story has been “sorted out” in the eyes of many ...
After Guangzhou, China-Africa Relations Return to Normal but Big Problems Loom Below the Surface
The squall caused by the eviction and mistreatment of Africans in Guangzhou is dying down, and the China-Africa relationship seems to be heading back to its usual state: glassy calm on the surface with massive currents deep below. The fact that ...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Moves to Calm Tensions With African Diplomats Over the Recent Crisis in Guangzhou
Diplomatic tensions between China and a number of African governments and institutions appear to have considerably following the crisis over the weekend in Guangzhou where African migrants and residents were forcibly removed from their homes and hotels. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang ...
Slow to Act at First, China Now Ramping Up Its Response to the Burgeoning Diplomatic Crisis
The Chinese government appears to have been caught off guard by the speed with which the diplomatic crisis ensued following the initial wave of evictions of African migrants from their homes/hotels in Guangzhou that began last Thursday. The first response came ...
Nigeria’s Speaker of the House Publishes Video Admonishing Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian About the Situation in Guangzhou
In a notable break with diplomatic protocol, Nigeria's Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, published a 2:20 minute excerpt of his meeting on Saturday with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian. Normally, when an ambassador is called by a host government to ...
This Image of Evicted African Men Sleeping on the Streets of Guangzhou Went Viral Early in the Crisis
A photo of visibly cold African men wearing surgical masks sleeping on the streets of Guangzhou after reportedly being evicted from their homes or hotel rooms went viral early in this crisis, sparking widespread anger among African Twitter and Facebook users. ...
Q&A: Infographic Shows How COVID-19 Made it to Africa
A volunteer group of young professionals and graduate students from around the world recently published a compelling new infographic that uses publicly available datasets to visualize how COVID-19 made its way to Africa. What's interesting here is that despite the widespread concern in many African countries that ...
The Historical Irony That Brits Would be Calling on China to Pay Reparations Over COVID-19
Lagos-based international affairs analyst and CAP columnist Ovigwe Egegu noted the historical irony today about British calls for China to pay reparations for the COVID-19 outbreak. ...
Nigerian Public Health Authorities Struggle to Dispel Rumors That Donated Chinese Test Kits are Infected with COVID-19
Nigeria's Center for Disease Control is the latest government agency to rebut false allegations that the test kits recently donated by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma came infected with COVID-19. Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, labeled the ...
China Says “Mission Accomplished” in COVID-19 Fight and Wants African Countries to Follow its Example
The Chinese propaganda machine in Africa is cranked all the way up. Newspapers, radio, TV, Twitter, Facebook, you name it, the Chinese are there with a big bold message: "WE DEFEATED COVID-19! WE'RE HELPING AFRICA! NOW SUCK IT AMERICA!" OK, that's somewhat interpretive, but you get the ...
Africans Worry About Quality of Donated Chinese COVID-19 Aid Following Reports of Defective Masks in Europe
Earlier this week I wrote a story about the reputational risks associated with China's so-called "Mask Diplomacy" initiative where it's donating millions of PPE to countries around the world. The basic premise of the story is that if everything goes well, then China wins, but ...
China’s State Media Promotes Use of Traditional Chinese Medicine to Treat COVID-19 in Africa
Chinese official media is actively promoting the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine remedies in Africa to treat COVID-19 despite the fact that the WHO is on record ...