CGSP Podcasts
Weekly discussions with key thought leaders about China’s engagement in Africa and the Global South.
podcast
China-Africa Relations in the Xi Jinping Era
For much of the past twenty years, China's strategy in Africa could easily be summarized in two words: invest and extract. Today, that is no longer the case as China's agenda in Africa, and throughout much of the global south, has ...
Why Africa Should Be Watching Political Shifts in China
Every year China's two major legislative bodies convene for what is typically a rather boring, uneventful gathering to ratify the president's agenda. This annual ritual, known commonly as the "Two Sessions," is when the National People's Congress, the mostly-rubber stamp ...
Black Panther Sparks Debate Over Anti-Black Racism in China
The Marvel superhero blockbuster Black Panther generated a respectable $100 million at the Chinese box office in March, making it the film’s top overseas market. The movie had a very strong opening in China, earning more than ...
China No Longer Afraid to Challenge Critics of Its Role in Africa
There’s been a discernible change in how the Chinese government responds to criticism about their policies in Africa, particularly from other major powers like the U.S. Until recently, Chinese officials often avoided direct conflict with its critics, opting instead for ...
Rex Tillerson’s ‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’ Advice for Africa
There is a certain irony when a U.S. envoy travels to Africa to warn his hosts about the dangers of borrowing money from China. The United States, after all, is the world’s most indebted country and borrows more from China ...
How the World's Most Trafficked Animal Is Caught in Africa and Sold in Asia
The small, scaly pangolin is the world's most trafficked animal. Poachers in Africa are capturing and killing vast numbers of these animals and illegally shipping them to markets throughout Asia, but mostly in China and Vietnam. In 2017 the Africa-China Reporting Project at Wits ...
Hong Kong Millionaire's Arrest Exposes Problem of Chinese Corruption in Africa
Former Hong Kong home affairs secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping pleaded not guilty last month to corruption charges brought by a U.S. federal court in New York after he was accused of offering bribes worth a total of $2.9 million to prominent African leaders ...
China's Leaders Spend a Lot of Time in Africa, Where They Go May Surprise You
Over the past 10 years Chinese leaders have made 79 official visits to 43 different African countries, according to new data from the Beijing-based consultancy Development Reimagined. Where the senior leadership goes offers some fascinating insights on China's priorities in Africa.
How Trumps’s Vulgar Comments About Africa Play Right Into China’s Hands
What little Donald Trump has said about Africa during his first year in office as U.S. president has not exactly been very positive. Comments about Nigerians living “huts,” making up a
China’s Evolving Military Strategy in Africa
With some 3,300 military personnel under U.N. command in Africa, China today has more troops deployed to multinational operations than any other permanent member of the Security Council. That figure is expected to increase sharply in the coming years as ...
Africa Emerges as New Front in Asia’s Power Politics
This past New Year’s eve, just a few hours before midnight, one of Japan’s largest daily newspapers published a story that took a lot of people by surprise. The Japanese government, according to the report in Yomiuri Shimbun, quietly floated the idea of ...
Africa’s Expensive, High Stakes Gamble to Lure Chinese Manufacturers
Newly-built industrial parks are popping up across Africa as part of a new effort to pick up some of the estimated 85 million jobs that China is expected to shed as it offshores more ...