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The China in Africa Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by The China-Global South Project
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- 4 days ago51 min
What Africa Looks Like From Beijing Today
From the streets of Beijing to the halls of Peking University, Geraud shares what's changed in China after a decade away — and how Chinese scholars are rethinking Africa beyond the traditional "China-Africa" lens. Geraud joins Eric & Cobus from the Chinese capital to discuss the new mood in Beijing, declining foreign presence, and what African diplomats and researchers really think about the future of ties with China. Plus, French President Emmanuel Macron focused a lot of attention on China during his recent trip to Kenya, where he accused Beijing of becoming the continent's new "predator." And, a breakdown of the latest China-Africa trade numbers that reveal some very big problems. 📌 Topics Covered in this Episode Geraud's return to Beijing after 10 years The changing mood inside China on Africa Why fewer foreigners are living in Beijing Chinese scholars rethinking Africa studies Macron's China comments during his Kenya visit Africa's growing trade imbalance with China Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud | @stadenesque Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas Join us on Patreon! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
- 1 weeks ago41 min
Middle Powers in a Post-American Order
The U.S. created the post-World War II international order that it no longer wants to lead today. But what replaces it is still unknown. So, in the meantime, small and medium-sized countries, so-called "middle powers," are scrambling to form new partnerships to insulate themselves from the inevitable instability that will arise from this transition. We're seeing this play out daily now as leaders from South Africa, Brazil, Australia, Vietnam, Japan, and dozens of other countries crisscross the globe at a frenetic pace to build what many are describing as a new middle-power coalition. But Sarang Shidore, director of the Global South program at the Quincy Institute, argued in a Foreign Policy column that it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, for a coalition like this to succeed. Sarang joins Eric to explain why divergent north-south interests will be very hard to overcome. 📌 Topics Covered in this Episode Rapid global realignment among middle powers Declining trust in U.S.-led institutions BRICS and alternative power coalitions China's growing Global South influence Transactional diplomacy and diversification What the next world order may look like Show Notes: Foreign Policy: Can Middle Powers Gel? by Sarang Shidore The New York Times: American Supremacy Is Over, and Something New Is Coming by Sarang Shidore Politico: Trump Is Demolishing the Global Order. Here's What Might Come Next. Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas Join us on Patreon! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
- 2 weeks ago54 min
Inside the Race for Africa's Strategic Corridors
With the U.S., Europe, Japan, and China all moving quickly to secure new supplies of African critical minerals, more attention is now shifting to the strategic supply chains that will get those resources from mine to port to market. The U.S. and Europe have invested billions to refurbish the Lobito Corridor that stretches from the DRC and Angola all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The Chinese have committed nearly two billion dollars to upgrade the aging TAZARA railway that links Zambia to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, joins Eric & Géraud to discuss how Japan is placing its bet on the Nacala Corridor — a much lower profile, yet potentially far more important route that links Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. Topics Covered in This Episode Major powers competing for Africa's trade corridors The strategic importance of the Nacala Corridor China's role in African infrastructure and logistics Japan's approach to supply chain diversification Critical minerals and the race up the value chain The Lobito and TAZARA corridors explained Show Notes: The Africa Center for Strategic Studies: Reciprocal and Resilient Mineral Supply Chains: Lessons from the Nacala Corridor by Paul Nantulya Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas Join us on Patreon! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
- 3 weeks ago49 min
Why 3 African States Said No to Taiwan
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te was forced to cancel a scheduled visit to Eswatini this week after Mauritius, the Seychelles, and Madagascar revoked Lai's flight permits. Authorities in Taipei immediately accused Beijing of using economic coercion against these three countries, a narrative that was quickly picked up by the international media and conservative lawmakers in the U.S. There is no evidence supporting the claim of coercion or the reported threat that China would impose economic sanctions or revoke debt relief against these three countries. In fact, none of the African countries involved is in any kind of debt distress to China. Eric, Géraud, and Cobus discuss why it was likely the exercise of African agency, rather than any pressure from China, that prompted the decision to close off their airspace to Lai's plane. 📌 Topics Covered in This Episode Why Taiwan's Africa trip was suddenly canceled Claims of Chinese "economic coercion" examined The reality of African countries' debt exposure to China How US media and policymakers framed the story Why African states had little incentive to say yes The role of China's red lines in global diplomacy How narratives diverge from facts in global coverage What this reveals about Africa's agency in foreign policy Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas Join us on Patreon! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
- Apr 16, 202654 min
China, Surveillance, and Africa's Digital Transformation
China is the indispensable actor in Africa's tech ecosystem. From Huawei's telecom infrastructure to Transsion's dominant smartphone brands and Hikvision's surveillance systems, Chinese technologies are now deeply embedded across the continent, often holding leading market share in their sectors. While the prominent role of Chinese technology has delivered significant benefits to African governments and consumers, it's also raised serious concerns among activists and policymakers around data privacy, the expansion of surveillance capabilities, and well-documented misuse by authoritarian-leaning governments. Bulelani Jili, an assistant professor at Georgetown University and a leading scholar on China–Africa technology engagement, joins Eric and Cobus to discuss his latest research exploring the tension between how Chinese technology can drive meaningful empowerment and create potentially dangerous dependencies. Show Notes: African Affairs: Pedagogies of Digital Sovereignty: The Un/Making Of Dependency Through Technical Education in Kenya by Bulelani Jili Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas Join us on Patreon! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
- Apr 9, 202657 min
Awkward China-Africa Conversations in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. lags far behind China in the race for critical minerals, electric mobility, power generation, and new energy technologies, among others, but, in the view of many in Washington, D.C., there's still time to catch up. Eric spent a week in the U.S. Capitol talking with key stakeholders in government, academia, and think tanks, to hear firsthand why there's widespread concern about China's lead in these areas, but no sense of panic. Cobus and Géraud join Eric to discuss whether it may actually be too late for the United States to catch up to China in certain sectors and why African countries, in particular, are focusing less attention on ties with Washington as they look to other partners for their economic and development needs. Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas Join us on Patreon! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
- Apr 2, 202652 min
Why Residents Near a Massive Chinese-run Mine in the DR Congo Are Getting Sick
A three-year investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Congolese NGO Premi Congo uncovered severe health consequences for communities living near the Tenke Fungurume Mine (TFM) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world's largest copper-cobalt mine. Residents report nosebleeds, coughing up blood, and a troubling rise in stillbirths, all linked to high levels of sulfur dioxide emitted by a processing plant at TFM operated by Chinese mining giant CMOC Group. Luke Allen, a senior African program campaigner and one of the authors of the report, joins Eric & Géraud to discuss how the investigation also exposed major problems in corporate certifications that are supposed to call out this kind of environmental harm, but instead gave cover to the very companies causing it. 📌 Topics Covered in this Episode: The 3-year EIA investigation into the TFM mine Health impacts on communities near the mine CMOC's denial and response Failures in corporate certification China's mining footprint in the DRC The human cost of the green energy supply chain Show Notes: Environmental Investigation Agency: Toxic Transition - How the world's largest cobalt producer has allegedly poisoned communities for years: https://tinyurl.com/3k72k7fe Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas Join us on Patreon! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
- Mar 26, 202641 min
China's Economic Relationship With Africa Is Entering a New Phase
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng was in Kenya this week, where he oversaw the first shipment of agricultural products that will enter the Chinese market duty-free. There's a lot of excitement across the continent about China's removal of all import tariffs for goods from 53 African countries. But Yan Liang, an economics professor at Willamette University, argues it's not going to make much of a difference to reduce the swelling trade deficit that most African countries now have with China. Yan joins Eric to discuss a recent paper she wrote that explores China's evolving economic relationship with Africa and how the continent's lack of industrial capacity, among other factors, will keep the trade relationship between these two regions largely intact. 📌 Topics Covered in this Episode China's changing financial role in Africa New lending and investment patterns Rising debt repayments and pressures Growth of RMB financing in Africa Trade imbalances and structural challenges What China's economy means for Africa Show Notes: International Development Economics Associates: China's Evolving Role in Africa: Banker, Debt Collector and Rescuer by Yan Liang: https://tinyurl.com/mrybak59 Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas Join us on Patreon! Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
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About The China in Africa Podcast
Twice-weekly discussion about China's engagement across Africa and the Global South hosted by journalist Eric Olander and Asia-Africa scholar Cobus van Staden in Johannesburg.
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