CGSP Podcasts

China’s embrace of Africa has produced some stunning statistics.  The numbers look great pretty much across the board.From trade volumes to foreign investment to the growing popularity of Chinese ministerial junkets, the data all looks great.  No, in fact, ...

Gabon is that tiny country along the central west Africa that is often overlooked by its larger, more controversial and considerably more powerful neighbors.  With only 1.5 million people, Gabon is one of Africa’s smallest countries. Along with its modest population, Gabon also maintains a low-profile. Rarely does it make ...

Africa is now the latest front in an increasingly global competition between India and China for new markets, agricultural land and access to natural resources.  While Western media and politicians have reacted with varying degrees of alarm over the surge of Chinese trade and investment in Africa, Indian companies have ...

In this edition of the “China in Africa” podcast, host Eric Olander speaks with Africa scholar Dr. David Robinson, Phd. of Western Australia’s Edith Cowan University about his recent article “Hearts, Minds and Wallets:  Lessons from ...

https://soundcloud.com/chinatalkingpoints/china-in-africa-podcast-who-is-michael-sata Zambian opposition leader Michael Sata has emerged as a central character in the story of China’s engagement with Africa.  He has become a staple of the mainstream media’s coverage of ...

https://soundcloud.com/chinatalkingpoints/china-in-africa-podcast-the-future-of-the-tanzam-railway In this edition of the China in Africa podcast, host Eric Olander talks with the editor of chinaafricanews.com and London School of Economics masters candidate, Henry Hall, about the future ...

Xie Yajing is among the legions of faceless Chinese officials who are little known outside of their own bureaucracies.  Despite his prominence as a senior Chinese commercial counselor for Africa and West Asia, not a single image of Xie appears in ...

In this edition of the China in Africa podcast, host Eric Olander talks with Washington, D.C.-based writer and journalist Te-Ping Chen. Chen is an editor for change.org where she writes extensively on sustainability and social entrepreneurship in the developing world.    In a recent post on 

https://soundcloud.com/chinatalkingpoints/the-chinese-in-kinshasa In this edition of the “China in Africa” podcast, host Eric Olander speaks with Kinshasa-native and veteran Congolese television producer Tunga “Mimi” Mbia about the remarkable growth of the city’s ...

In this edition of the “China in Africa” podcast, Johannesburg-based blogger and academic Charlie Pistorius says the debate over whether  Chinese investment in Africa is either good or bad is entirely irrelevant.  Instead, one should evaluate the substantive outcome of China’s policies which will invariably produce a far more nuanced perspective.   In a pair of ...