Category: Uncategorized
China Leveraging New Aid Push to “Flip the Script” on the COVID-19 Story Says China Scholar
The highly coordinated Chinese COVID-19 relief effort that is underway around the world is in part intended to provide badly-needed supplies to countries in need but also to shift the narrative about China's role in the entire COVID-19 saga. Now that ...
The COVID-19 Crisis is Rapidly Evolving From a Health Crisis to an Economic Crisis to a Governance Crisis for Some African Leaders
Largely spared of the serious health consequences from the COVID-19 outbreak around the world, the crisis in Africa is now rapidly evolving into an economic and now, increasingly, a political crisis as constituents in a number of African countries express frustration over how their governments have handled ...
It Shouldn’t be a Huge Surprise That China is Not Pleased With Pompeo’s Africa Tour
One of China's leading English-language newspapers took aim at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his ongoing three-nation African tour. In a sharply worded editorial published on Monday, China Daily described U.S. policy as "demeaning" and "arrogant." The newspaper also rebutted ...
Africa CDC Director Praises China for its Handling of the Coronavirus Outbreak
The Director of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Addis Ababa, Dr. John Nkengasong, wrote a glowing commentary in the journal Nature about China's handling of the situation so far. It's not immediately clear as to what may have prompted Dr. Nkengasong to comment on ...
Africa’s Main Gateway to China Ramps Up Coronavirus Checks
With multiple daily flights between China and Africa, Bole International airport in Addis Ababa is a key frontline outpost in the effort to help stop a full-blown outbreak in Ethiopia and Africa at large. Health officials at the airport were a bit slower than others to implement ...
If You Aren’t Following The Chinese Consulate in Johannesburg’s Twitter Feed, You’re Missing Something Very Entertaining
The Chinese diplomatic corps in Africa is new to Twitter with most of their new accounts coming online within just the past few months. While the majority of those feeds are filled with the standard diplomatic posts that one expects from an official Twitter account, the Twitter ...
Zimbabwe Takes Delivery of Used B777 With Hopes to Launch New Direct Flights to China
A Boeing 777 from Kuala Lumpur landed at the Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare this week and brought with it the hope that Zimbabwe can revive its national flag carrier Air Zimbabwe. This is the first of two 777-200s that Zimbabwe purchased for $16.5 million apiece ...
AFRICOM: While the U.S. Wants to Partner with African Governments to Fight Terrorism, China Instead Just Sells Weapons
To say that the U.S. Military Command for Africa (AFRICOM) does not think highly of China's engagement on the continent would be putting it mildly. In an article published today in Military Times, AFRICOM commanders are outright dismissive of the Chinese ...
China Promotes Burundi to “All-Weather Friend”
One of the highlights of Foreign Minister Wang Yi's trip to Burundi was the announcement that Beijing had classified the government there as an "All-Weather Friend." While this may not be an official diplomatic designation, it's nonetheless an important status within the Chinese diplomatic lexicon.
Kenya’s Embattled SGR Suffers Major Setback as Burundi, DRC Opt for Tanzania Route to Port of Dar es Salaam
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's longheld dream of extending his $4.9 billion Chinese-financed Standard Gauge Railway across East Africa suffered a major setback this week as both Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo both opted to go with Tanzania's SGR for direct access to the port ...
Chinese, Russian Warships Arrive in Cape Town for Inaugural Joint Exercises with South Africa
Chinese, Russian and South African warships assembled in Cape Town on Monday for the start of Exercise Mosi, the first-ever joint naval exercises among these three countries. Yesterday and today the ships will be docked for public relations events and then on Thursday, they will head out ...
OPay and PalmPay: Two Chinese-Backed Investments Battle it Out in Africa’s Rapidly Growing Mobile Payment Market
Nairobi-based Malawian tech entrepreneur Wiza Jalakasi offers his take on the Opay vs. PalPay duel that is emerging. Follow Wiza on Twitter at @wizaj and find out more about his portfolio on his personal website at wiza.jalaka.si.