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[CGSP FORUM] Africa’s Energy Future and China: Gauging the Price of Power

In CGSP’s first-ever China–Africa Energy Forum, Managing Editor Cobus van Staden hosts three leading experts to explore how Chinese finance, technology, and policy are transforming Africa’s power landscape: Frangton ChiyemuraLecturer in International Development, Open ...

Inside China’s African Rail Projects: A Translator’s Unexpected Video Diary

A young Chinese man working as a bilingual English–French translator on Guinean infrastructure projects has found an unusual way to connect with Chinese youth. On the video platform Bilibili, he opened an account to document life on construction sites. To his audience’s surprise, his videos reveal rare, ...

Crude Deals or Clever Design? Unpacking China’s Resource-Backed Finance in Africa

It is not every day that a highway is paid for with barrels of oil. Yet in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, that is exactly how some of the region’s largest infrastructure projects are being financed. Instead of tapping their treasuries or issuing sovereign bonds, governments are ...

Kenya Caught Uncomfortably Between the U.S. and China

The Kenyan government is under mounting pressure from the United States over its close ties with China. Influential lawmakers in Washington are furious over comments made by President William Ruto during a visit to Beijing earlier this year, where he said ...

China’s Belt and Road Hits New Highs, but Latin America Lags

By Fermín Koop and Patrick Moore The first half of 2025 saw the highest engagement ever for a six-month period under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s flagship global infrastructure program, a new report has shown.

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The G20 Summit and the Half-Life of a Joke

When it was announced in 2023 that the African Union would become a full member of the G20, I darkly joked on a podcast that the AU’s entry into the body could very well mark the moment the G20 lost its status as one of the most important global coordination forums. Mark my words, I said, soon The Economist will be like “Uhhh, the G20 is OVER – it’s the ...

The Chinese FDI Boom in Africa That Wasn’t

For years, China has been seen as the pivotal international economic partner across Africa. That was certainly true in terms of steadily rising trade volumes and a fire hose of state backed loans that built roads, railways, and ports across the ...