China Turns up the Pressure on eSwatini to Abandon Taiwan
The tiny landlocked kingdom of eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland, is now the last country in Africa to maintain diplomatic relations wit...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & Podcasts
News & Politics
The China in Africa Podcast
A lively discussion on China's engagement across Africa hosted by veteran journalist Eric Olander in Asia and Dr. Cobus van Staden in Johannesburg.
Episodes
20 of 100 episodes
Africa Not Prepared to Deal With the Consequences of Economic Disruption in China
The Chinese economy is undergoing unprecedented economic disruption due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and African countries are largely unp...
China Takes on a More Prominent Role in Mideast & Gulf Politics
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi kicked off his annual tour of Africa in Cairo this week where he met with senior Egyptian leaders to discus...
China-Africa Relations in 2020: Key Trends to Watch
This week Eric & Cobus discuss what's ahead in 2020 for China-Africa relations. Each shares their views on three key trends to watch out for...
The Rapidly Growing Market for Chinese Private Security Contractors in Africa
The recent kidnapping of three Chinese miners in the southwestern Nigerian state of Osun highlights the vulnerability that confronts the Chi...
The Rare News Interview with a Chinese Ambassador in Africa
Chinese ambassadors in Africa rarely grant one-on-one interviews with international journalists. But that's starting to change now, particul...
Why Ghana's $2b Resource Deal With China Is Not as Risky as Critics Charge
News coverage and social media commentary about the recent deal signed between the Ghanian government and the Chinese state-owned constructi...
Chinese and African Agriculture Have a Lot More in Common Than Most People Think
It's counterintuitive to a lot of people, but Chinese and African agriculture has a lot more in common with one another than many first expe...
The Rise of Chinese Private Sector Investment in Africa
Chinese investors have been wary of the African market. For a long time, China's cash-rich venture capital, private equity, and corporate in...
Ghana's Risky $2 Billion 'Roads for Resources' Gamble with China
Ghana is moving forward with an environmentally-risky resources-for-infrastructure deal with the Chinese state-owned construction conglomera...
Africa's Donkey Population Risks Collapse Due to Surging Chinese Demand for Hides
Persistent Chinese demand for donkey hides is now pushing the animal's population in many countries, including a number in Africa, to the br...
China's Role in Africa's Rapidly Growing Space Market
African countries are not traditionally known for having strong space programs but now as the cost of launching satellites into orbit falls,...
Chinese Investment and Labor Practices in Ethiopia
Ethiopia stands out from other African countries for its ability to attract Chinese companies to open factories there. Through a combination...
Does China Benefit From the U.S. Stripping Cameroon of Its AGOA Privileges?
At first glance, it would seem that the Trump administration's decision to revoke Cameroon's free-trade privileges would be counterproductiv...
France Used to Be the Big Player in Senegal. No More. It's the Chinese.
It wasn't that long ago when France was by far the dominant foreign actor in West Africa. "Francafrique's" once ubiquitous power allowed it...
Africa's New Embrace of Russia Risks Alienating China, U.S.
Last week's Russia-Africa Summit in the Black Sea city of Sochi marked Moscow's formal re-entry into the African diplomatic arena. The Russi...
A Cautionary Lesson About Chinese Manufacturing in Africa
The pace of Chinese manufacturing going offshore has picked up significantly in the past year, spurred on by U.S. sanctions and the worsenin...
Investing in African Students is China's Longterm Soft Power Play
Nigerian Dickson Agbaji is not famous. He's not a singer, a movie star or a popular online celebrity. So, according to the conventional defi...
The China-Africa Tech Roundup with Andile Masuku
When Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings IPO'd last month no one predicted that it would surge a stunning 64% on its opening day of trading in...
The Bitter Life for Chinese Migrant Workers in Ethiopia
The presence of Chinese workers who are helping to build the billions of dollars of infrastructure across Africa is one of the most contenti...