Tanzanian President Samia Hassan surprised a lot of people last month when she announced that talks with China had resumed over the controversial Bagamoyo port deal. This is the deal that President Hassan’s predecessor, the late John Magufuli, famously halted back in 2019 when he said only a “drunkard” would accept the terms put forth by China Merchant Holdings International.

Things have changed a lot since then and apparently, even Chinese President Xi Jinping is now open to the idea of restarting negotiations over the multibillion-dollar port expansion project.