CGSP Podcasts
Weekly discussions with key thought leaders about China’s engagement in Africa and the Global South.
podcast
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 ...
China Poised to Benefit From Trump's Africa Policy (Or Lack Thereof)
Although leaders in Asia, Europe and the Americas are struggling to figure out what are the implications of Donald J. Trump's election to the U.S. presidency. At least in those regions, the president-elect made passing references during the campaign to Japan’s future security status, ...
China's Controversial, Out-Sized Role in Africa's Digital Revolution
Africa is home to one of the fastest growing technology markets in the world. In fact, more African households own a mobile phone than have reliable electricity or even clean water. The combination of a young population, some of the fastest ...
IMF Missteps Over Huge China Deal in the DR Congo Proves Costly
In 2007 when China's Exim Bank unveiled a massive $6 billion mining deal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it completely rocked the normally-staid world of international development finance. The agreement, known as "The China Deal" or Sicomines, was among the first of ...
The Enduring Popularity of Chinese Kung Fu Movies in Africa
The Chinese government is spending billions of dollars around the world to expand its already massive global media footprint. Africa is a major destination for a lot of that investment. Although it is not clear how much money the Chinese have spent ...