CGSP Podcasts
Weekly discussions with key thought leaders about China’s engagement in Africa and the Global South.
podcast
Donkey Hide is the New Ivory for the Chinese in Africa
It will likely not come as a surprise to many that once again Chinese consumer demand is responsible for another animal crisis in Africa. Chinese companies don’t want these donkeys for their meat, just the hides that are used as an ingredient in a ...
The Chinese Media's African identity crisis
The Chinese Communist Party-controlled international television news broadcaster CGTN (China Global Television News) faces a seemingly-irreconcilable dilemma. While the network positions itself as an alternative to the dominant global channels like CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, CGTN ...
Get Ready Africa, the Big "Trump-Shift" to China is Coming
Over a month into his presidency, Donald Trump has yet to utter a single word about his foreign policy vision for Africa. Given that the combative president has picked fights with Mexico, Australia and, of course the
The Hollow Rules Governing China-Africa Investment
Even though China is one of Africa's largest investors, ranked seventh overall according to Ernst & Young, there are surprisingly few rules that govern private-sector investments between these two regions. These rules are established through bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, where ...
Is China a Partner or Predator in Africa (or Both)?
Depending on who you speak with, China's engagement in Africa is often described in extreme terms as either the best thing to happen to the continent in the post-colonial era or just the latest foreign predator coming to pillage ...
How China's Insatiable Demand for Timber Threatens Congo's Rain Forests
A series of powerful forces, continents away from one another, are conspiring to devastate the vast rain forests that blanket the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are trees in those forests whose wood is particularly celebrated in China for its color and durability. With ...
Chinese Tourist Arrivals in Africa Are up, so Why Aren't African Travel Companies More Excited?
Africa is becoming an increasingly popular holiday destination among adventure-seeking Chinese tourists. The numbers of visitors who went to Africa in 2016 was up sharply due to looser visa restrictions and new direct flights between China and Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa among other ...
How Taiwan Became a Divisive Wedge Issue in South Africa
South Africa's opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), now sees the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party's close ties to China as a vulnerability that the DA aims to exploit. Evidence of this new strategy came in December when the DA mayor of Pretoria, ...
How Donald Trump Could Give China a Real Boost in Africa
The election of Donald Trump has introduced a new era of uncertainty in global politics, especially in Africa where the president-elect has said nothing about his ...
2016 China-Africa Year in Review
After years of relatively trouble-free development, 2016 marked a turning point in the China-Africa amid turbulent changes in the global economic and political order. China increased its deployment of combat troops to the continent, suffering some its first casualties ...
Does Just One Man in China Control the Fate of Africa's Elephants?
In the powerful new Netflix documentary "The Ivory Game," Elephant Action League Executive Director Andrea Crosta ominously warned that the entire fate of Africa's elephants is in the hands of a single man, Chinese president Xi ...
How Rwanda Attracts Chinese Money and Migrants Without the Lure of Natural Resources
It is a widely-held perception that Chinese investment in Africa is guided by a strategic foreign policy agenda focused on securing vast amount of natural resources. This narrative fits nicely with an outdated Western ...