298 episodes

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.

The China in Africa Podcast The China-Global South Project

    • News

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.

    WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese Debt and the Anti-Government Revolt in Kenya

    WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese Debt and the Anti-Government Revolt in Kenya

    Protestors in Kenya this week expressed fury against the government and the IMF but interestingly made no mention of China during an unprecedented uprising in Nairobi. It's notable because the Kenyan Treasury spends more money to service its Chinese loans than any other single creditor.
    For years, across two administrations, the Kenyan government has pleaded with China to reschedule nearly $6 billion of outstanding loans, all to no avail. And the cost of servicing that dollar-denominated debt has skyrocketed due to the depreciation of the shilling.
    This week, Eric, Cobus & Geraud discuss the role that Chinese debt plays in Kenya's current economic distress and provide updates on the fate of a Chinese oil pipeline caught in the middle of a simmering conflict in West Africa.
    JOIN THE DISCUSSION:
    X: @ChinaGSProject | @christiangeraud | @stadenesque
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
    FOLLOW CAP IN FRENCH AND ARABIC:
    Français: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
    Arabic: عربي: www.alsin-alsharqalawsat.com | @SinSharqAwsat
    JOIN US ON PATREON!
    Become a CAP 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 CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth

    • 53 min
    [GLOBAL SOUTH] The Crisis in the South China Sea Enters a Dangerous New Phase

    [GLOBAL SOUTH] The Crisis in the South China Sea Enters a Dangerous New Phase

    The violent confrontation between China and the Philippines on June 17th near the Second Thomas Shoal marked a sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries over their rival territorial claims in the South China Sea.
    After the melee that severely injured one Filipino sailor, the two countries engaged in a second battle, this time in the media, to shape the narrative of what happened and where this burgeoning crisis goes from here.
    Alex Vuving, a professor at the Pentagon-backed think tank Asia-Pacific Security Studies Center in Honolulu, joins Eric to discuss why the events of June 17th have prompted Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to recalibrate his strategy.
    JOIN THE DISCUSSION:
    X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander 
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
    FOLLOW CAP IN FRENCH AND ARABIC:
    Français: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
    Arabic: عربي: www.alsin-alsharqalawsat.com | @SinSharqAwsat
    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

    • 40 min
    How China's Changing Economy is Impacting Africa?

    How China's Changing Economy is Impacting Africa?

    Back in the early 2000s, when Chinese engagement in Africa started to ramp up, China was enjoying double-digit growth and devoured vast quantities of African oil, minerals, and timber to feed its surging manufacturing sector.
    Fast-forward to the present, and China no longer relies on African resources as it once did. The Chinese economy has matured, and those heady growth days are long past. And now, with the BRI in place, China doesn't rely on Africa for resources anywhere near as much as it did 20 years ago.
    A new paper published by two of the world's leading scholars on China-Africa ties, Zainab Usman from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Professor Tang Xiaoyang from Tsinghua University in Beijing, details five key economic trends re-shaping the relationship between these two regions.
    Zainab joins CGSP Africa Editor Géraud Neema to discuss how this evolving economic relationship will impact African countries, in particular.
    JOIN THE DISCUSSION:
    X: @ChinaGSProject | @christiangeraud | @mszeeusman
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
    FOLLOW CAP IN FRENCH AND ARABIC:
    Français: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
    Arabic: عربي: www.alsin-alsharqalawsat.com | @SinSharqAwsat
    JOIN US ON PATREON!
    Become a CAP 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 CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth

    • 1 hr 5 min
    It's Time to Take the BRICS More Seriously

    It's Time to Take the BRICS More Seriously

    The BRICS group has existed since 2009 and has done little to distinguish itself in 15 years. They created a mid-sized development bank, but other than that, the bloc's accomplishments have been rather modest.
    That's now starting to change as the BRICS doubled in size to ten members, with around thirty other countries now on the waiting list.
    At the latest BRICS Foreign Ministers gathering in western Russia last week, new initiatives harmonizing AI standards, currency transfers, and developing new business parks were among the issues on the agenda. While these may seem trivial in this era of war and Great Power rivalry, getting lots of small things done is actually a big deal.
    Gustavo de Carvalho, a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, is among the world's foremost scholars on the BRICS and joins Eric & Cobus from Johannesburg to discuss why it's time to start paying closer attention to this group.
    JOIN THE DISCUSSION:
    X: @ChinaGSProject | @stadenesque | @eric_olander | @decarvalho
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
    FOLLOW CAP IN FRENCH AND ARABIC:
    Français: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
    Arabic: عربي: www.alsin-alsharqalawsat.com | @SinSharqAwsat
    JOIN US ON PATREON!
    Become a CAP 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 CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
     

    • 50 min
    The Future of Chinese Development Finance in Africa

    The Future of Chinese Development Finance in Africa

    Chinese development finance in Africa today is a small fraction of what it was a decade ago when Beijing's policy banks provided billions of dollars in loans to countries across the continent.
    But while those heady days of easily accessible finance will likely never return, there are indications major Chinese lenders are once again gearing up to extend new financing for badly needed infrastructure projects in Africa.
    Tarela Moses and Tim Hirschel-Burns from Boston University's Global Development Center closely follow the latest Chinese financing trends and join Eric & Cobus to discuss why there's reason for modest optimism.
    SHOW NOTES:
    CGSP: The African Development Bank and the Role of China in Africa’s Call for Changes in the Global Financial Architecture by Tim Hirschel-Burns and Oyintarelado Moses: https://bit.ly/3V85E4R JOIN THE DISCUSSION:
    X: @ChinaGSProject | @stadenesque | @eric_olander | @tarelamoses | @timh_b
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
    FOLLOW CAP IN FRENCH AND ARABIC:
    Français: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
    Arabic: عربي: www.alsin-alsharqalawsat.com | @SinSharqAwsat
    JOIN US ON PATREON!
    Become a CAP 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 CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
     

    • 42 min
    [GLOBAL SOUTH] Jane Perlez on the Global South's Role in the U.S.-China Strategic Rivalry

    [GLOBAL SOUTH] Jane Perlez on the Global South's Role in the U.S.-China Strategic Rivalry

    With memories still fresh from the first Cold War, leaders in Africa, Asia, and across the Global South have repeatedly said they do not want any part of a second Great Power rivalry. But as tensions between the U.S. and China steadily deteriorate, the pressure on these smaller, non-aligned countries is going to surge.
    The geopolitical dynamics are changing very fast.
    Jane Perlez, a renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who spent more than thirty years reporting for The New York Times as a foreign correspondent, laid out the challenges in a new eight-part podcast series on the burgeoning U.S.-China strategic competition.
    Jane joins Eric & Cobus from Sydney to share her insights on where this competition is going and what impact she thinks it will have on developing countries.
    SHOW NOTES:
    Listen to Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China hosted by Jane Perlez: https://tinyurl.com/22kkfpu8
    JOIN THE DISCUSSION:
    X: @ChinaGSProject | @stadenesque | @eric_olander | @janeperlez
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
    YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
    FOLLOW CAP IN FRENCH AND ARABIC:
    Français: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
    Arabic: عربي: www.alsin-alsharqalawsat.com | @SinSharqAwsat
    JOIN US ON PATREON!
    Become a CAP 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 CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth
     

    • 53 min

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