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From Blueprint to Power Plant: Lessons from Chinese Power Projects in Africa

After tracing the arc from planning to procurement, financing to construction, this final installment in Part 1 of The Porcelain Jar at the End of the Rainbow pauses to reflect. What have we learned, not just about China’s engagement in Africa’s power sector, but about the systems, choices, and ...

Powering Africa: China’s Expanding Role in the Continent’s Energy Future

This report, authored by International Development expert Dr. Frangton Chiyemura, examines the scale and significance of Chinese-backed energy projects across Africa. From solar parks in Mali to massive hydropower dams in Zambia, it explains how these initiatives are distributed, why they matter, and what they mean ...

Crude Deals or Clever Design? Unpacking China’s Resource-Backed Finance in Africa

It is not every day that a highway is paid for with barrels of oil. Yet in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, that is exactly how some of the region’s largest infrastructure projects are being financed. Instead of tapping their treasuries or issuing sovereign bonds, governments are ...

Stop Calling the Lobito Corridor a U.S. Gambit Against China

There’s a lazy but geopolitically irresistible allure in branding Angola’s Lobito Corridor as a U.S. bid to blunt China’s influence in Africa and the region’s mineral supply chains. I get why the framing sticks: it’s neat, dramatic, and easy to sell. ...

[WEEK IN REVIEW] China Invests in Angola to Secure Food Supply Chains

Chinese construction giant Sinohydro signed a $100 million deal with Angola to build out the country's agricultural infrastructure in a bid to boost grain production. While 60% of the output from this venture will be shipped to China, the rest will ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The Pain of Un-Polarity

“THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!”
This post by U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week may end up leaving a more lasting mark than the actual summit he attended.

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Motives That Matter: The Economic and Strategic Logic Behind China’s Power Sector Engagement in Africa

Why is China building power plants across Sub-Saharan Africa? What exactly motivates its involvement in the sector? What does it hope to gain, and what does this mean for countries on the receiving end of its infrastructure support? Is this simply a gesture of South-South solidarity, ...

Critical Minerals Weekly: China’s Rare Earth Reset, Copper Overcapacity, and Zimbabwe’s Big Lithium Gamble

This is a free preview of the upcoming Critical Minerals Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. After months of strategic restrictions, China has agreed to resume rare earth exports to the U.S. as ...

Model Meets Reality: The Africa–China Export Forecast That Delivered

In an era where economic uncertainty often renders forecasts obsolete before they materialize, Africa’s export performance to China between 2022 and 2026 stands out as a compelling exception. Projections that I made together with Professor Reon Matemane, an associate professor at the University of Pretoria, in ...

The New Realities About Chinese Development Finance in Africa

Chinese overseas development finance is unrecognizable from what it was just a few years ago. After suffering tens of billions of dollars in losses, Chinese lenders have moved to de-risk their lending to countries in Africa, Asia, and across the Global ...

China, the U.S., and the Competition for Africa’s Strategic Resources

Southern Africa has become a focal point of geopolitical competition, with the U.S., China, and other global powers maneuvering for influence over key infrastructure projects and critical resources. The Lobito Corridor Project, a railway and logistics ...

What does Trump 2.0 Offer to Africa?

By Cobus van Staden As the world shifts into gear for the next Trump term, striking new polling results have revealed a split in opinion about the incoming president. An opinion survey of ...

No, the Lobito Corridor is NOT a U.S. Project

U.S. President Joe Biden finally made his long-postponed trip to Angola, fulfilling his December 2022 promise to visit Africa. When the promise was initially made, there were expectations of a more substantial visit—perhaps including multiple countries—not just a single stop as a “lame duck.”
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