CGSP Podcasts
Weekly discussions with key thought leaders about China’s engagement in Africa and the Global South.
podcast
Customer Feedback Shaping Spiro’s E-bike Design in Uganda
E-mobility solutions in African countries like Uganda are driven not only by Chinese EV technology but also by local innovations, which are creating solutions for everyday mobility challenges. It is often rare that you hear ...
Africa’s EV Trade Siege and What’s Blocking the Future
The electric vehicle (EV) sector in many African countries faces critical challenges, slowing down the adoption of electric mobility. Some of these challenges are intra-African trade barriers, which make it hard to do cross-border trade. ...
China Moves to Bolster Pakistan Ties Amid U.S. Rapprochement
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for a three-day visit, following a high-level stop in India earlier in the week, where he met both Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
‘If You Want to Get Rich, Build a Road.’ Testing China’s Theory in Africa
There's a Chinese proverb that says, “If you want to get rich, build a road first.” That philosophy has guided China's development strategy in Africa for much of the past 25 years, that's led to the construction of more than 100,000km ...
A Turbulent Week for China-Africa Media Narratives
Over the past week, sharply contrasting images of Chinese engagement in Africa surfaced online. Anger erupted on social media over the release of yet another violent video that shows Congolese soldiers brutally beating local miners purportedly at the behest of Chinese ...
China’s Happy With Its Iran Ties Just the Way They Are
There's been a lot of speculation in the aftermath of the brief U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran that Beijing would step in to bolster its longtime partners in Tehran. Rumors have been bouncing around that China will sell Iran advanced fighter jets ...
[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 ...
China’s Belt and Road Shatters Expectations With Record Activity
For much of the past two years, we've been told to expect a slimmer, more austere Belt and Road under the new "Small Yet Beautiful" mantra. The days of Chinese mega deals across the Global South were over... or so we ...
China’s Vital, Yet Poorly Understood Role in Africa’s Energy Sector
After a two-to-three-year hiatus following the pandemic, Chinese money is once again flowing into the African energy sector. Billions of dollars in new investment and construction contracts for power facilities were registered in the first half of the year, particularly in ...
Why Vietnam Will Never Join a U.S. Coalition Against China
Listen in on many of the foreign policy discussions about Vietnam that take place at think tanks and government seminars in Washington, D.C., and you'll hear this sense of optimism that "Hanoi is on our side." They see Vietnam's historical suspicions ...
How China Really Secures Its Loans to Developing Countries
The "debt trap" meme claims that China is intentionally lending vast sums of money to poor developing countries in Africa, and elsewhere, with the express intent to seize physical assets in those countries when they inevitably can't repay their debts.
China’s Middle East Math
There was widespread disappointment in Iran that China didn't do more to help Tehran during the recent 12-day war with Israel and the United States. Beijing, for its part, offered robust rhetorical and moral support, but little else. ...