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The China in Africa Podcast

The China-Global South Project

300 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.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. Africa Is Growing, But Is It Getting Richer?

    · 42 min · S16 E43

    Africa is projected to grow by 4.6% in 2026, potentially outpacing China for the first time in decades. But faster GDP growth does not necessarily translate into rising living standards. Resource-dependent economies,…

  2. Why Africa Matters to China

    · 1 h 02 min · S16 E42

    China is deepening its engagement with Africa as geopolitical competition intensifies, with President Xi Jinping meeting the leaders of Botswana and Togo in Beijing. The visits highlight Beijing's sustained diplomatic…

  3. China, Africa and the Fight Against Telecom Fraud

    · 58 min · S16 E41

    China-Africa security cooperation is expanding beyond military ties into cross-border law enforcement, as Chinese-linked telecom fraud operations spread across Africa. Joint investigations, intelligence sharing and…

  4. Hidden Uranium in DRC Cobalt Exports to China: Is It a Problem?

    · 42 min · S16 E40

    The DRC's cobalt industry is also moving uranium through global supply chains, creating a problem that extends beyond critical-minerals security. Researchers estimate that 2,000–5,000 tons of uranium may have left the…

  5. China, Taiwan and the Somaliland Question

    · 43 min · S16 E39

    China's engagement across Africa is increasingly shaped by both high-level geopolitics and competition in everyday markets. Somalia's renewed ties with Beijing are being driven in part by the Somaliland question,…

  6. Kenyan President Orders Crackdown on Foreigners in Small Businesses, Including Chinese

    · 59 min · S16 E38

    Kenya's crackdown on foreigners operating small businesses has put Chinese traders at the center of a wider debate over competition, immigration, and economic opportunity. President William Ruto's targeting of foreign…

  7. Is China Decolonizing African Media or Expanding Its Influence?

    · 54 min · S16 E37

    China's influence in Africa's media landscape increasingly operates through content-sharing agreements, journalist training, paid placements, and support for local broadcasters. These "below-the-line" strategies give…

  8. Africa Buys From China. What Can It Sell Back?

    · 44 min · S16 E37

    China-Africa trade is surging and could top $400 billion this year, but the headline figure obscures a relationship that remains heavily concentrated among a small number of countries and increasingly tilted toward…

  9. Why Namibia's China Strategy Is Worth Watching

    · 46 min · S16 E36

    Quite often, foreign leaders travel to China without a clear strategy for turning high-level diplomacy into tangible economic gains. This was on display earlier this year when U.S. President Donald Trump's much-hyped…

  10. China Is More Popular Than the U.S. in Africa. Here's Why

    · 58 min · S16 E35

    China's popularity across Africa remains strong, with new Afrobarometer polling showing Beijing again outperforming the U.S. and Europe in public perception. But those favorable views are far from straightforward,…

  11. What Africa's Youth Really Want From China, the U.S. and Europe

    · 58 min · S16 E34

    Young Africans increasingly see China as an important partner, but their support comes with clear expectations about what that relationship should deliver, according to findings from the recently published 2026 African…

  12. How China Wants to Rewrite Global Governance

    · 30 min · S16 E33

    China is moving quickly to expand its influence over global governance as the United States steps back from its traditional leadership role. Earlier this month, President Xi Jinping unveiled the World Artificial…

  13. Why Critical Minerals Alone Won't Make Countries Rich

    · 42 min · S16 E32

    There's growing optimism across Africa, Latin America, and Asia that abundant reserves of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel can fuel a new era of economic development. Determined to avoid the "resource…

  14. What's Next for China-Africa Trade?

    · 44 min · S16 E31

    There's good news and bad news for African countries in the latest China trade figures released this week. On the positive side, African exports to China surged in May and June, driven by strong demand for oil, metals,…

  15. Africa's China Trade Challenge Isn't Market Access. It's Market Readiness.

    · 47 min · S16 E30

    When China removed import tariffs on goods from all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations earlier this year, many hailed the move as a breakthrough that could boost African exports and help narrow…

  16. South Africa's Protests, China-Africa Trade and Global South Politics

    · 45 min · S16 E29

    Anti-immigrant protests in South Africa have raised difficult questions about race, class, and who gets targeted during waves of xenophobic anger. While Black African migrants have faced growing hostility, Chinese…

  17. Kenya's China Debt Restructuring Explained

    · 37 min · S16 E28

    Kenya's landmark debt restructuring deal with China, announced last year, converted $3 billion in outstanding China Exim Bank loans from U.S. dollars to Chinese yuan. The currency switch could save the East African…

  18. China Unveils Vision for a New World Order

    · 57 min · S16 E27

    The Chinese government this week unveiled a new vision for the emerging post-American-led international order. In a new white paper, Beijing argued that the existing global system does not need to be replaced or…

  19. Africa Is Closing The Door On Taiwan

    · 1 h 03 min · S16 E26

    Taiwan's delegates to the Our Ocean Conference scheduled to take place in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa next week will not be permitted to participate, according to a well-placed source. If this is the case, it would…

  20. Former State Department Insider on Washington's Muddled Africa Policy

    · 1 h 10 min · S16 E25

    Dan Kobayashi spent 16 years working as a U.S. diplomat focused on African issues, both at posts in Lesotho, Zambia, and Malawi, among others, and at the State Department's intelligence bureau in Washington, D.C. He…

  21. WEEK IN REVIEW: China's Africa Influence Test - Trade, Ebola & Perception

    · 43 min · S16 E24

    In this week's China in Africa podcast episode, which also serves as a Round Table episode, C. Geraud Neema and Cobus van Staden break down why Europe is increasingly concerned about Chinese investment in Morocco's…

  22. How the US Is Trying to Challenge China's Critical Mineral Dominance

    · 52 min · S16 E23

    The U.S. is rapidly reshaping its trade and industrial policies to build new critical mineral supply chains as part of a broader effort to reduce the country's dependence on China for these strategic resources. So far,…

  23. Kenya Court Orders Secret China Railway Contracts Released

    · 43 min · S16 E22

    Kenya's Court of Appeals issued a landmark ruling rejecting the government's decade-long effort to keep secret the $4.5 billion in China Exim Bank loan contracts used to finance the Standard Gauge Railway. The decision…

  24. What Africa Looks Like From Beijing Today

    · 52 min · S16 E20

    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.…

  25. Middle Powers in a Post-American Order

    · 42 min · S16 E19

    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,"…

  26. Inside the Race for Africa's Strategic Corridors

    · 54 min · S16 E18

    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…

  27. Why 3 African States Said No to Taiwan

    · 50 min · S16 E17

    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…

  28. China, Surveillance, and Africa's Digital Transformation

    · 55 min · S16 E16

    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…

  29. Awkward China-Africa Conversations in Washington, D.C.

    · 57 min · S16 E15

    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…

  30. Why Residents Near a Massive Chinese-run Mine in the DR Congo Are Getting Sick

    · 53 min · S16 E14

    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…

  31. China's Economic Relationship With Africa Is Entering a New Phase

    · 41 min · S16 E13

    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…

  32. View From Washington: What the US Needs to Do to Re-Engage Africa

    · 54 min · S16 E12

    While the Trump administration has taken a hard line toward Africa through aid cuts, travel bans, and pressure on governments like South Africa, it has also generated more investor excitement in Washington than we've…

  33. Comparing U.S. and Chinese Aid Strategies in Africa

    · 57 min · S16 E11

    For decades, the United States was the dominant provider of aid and humanitarian assistance to African countries. That changed last year with the closure of USAID. Washington now says it wants to prioritize trade over…

  34. Who Controls the Battery Age? Congo, China, and the New Resource Order

    · 1 h 14 min · S16 E10

    The U.S., Japan, and other G7 countries are scrambling to secure critical minerals to end their reliance on Chinese-controlled supply chains. Every week, there's news of another mining deal for cobalt, lithium, and…

  35. Why Private Bondholders Matter More Than China in Africa's Debt Debate

    · 43 min · S16 E9

    For more than a decade, the dominant Western narrative about Chinese lending to African countries has focused on the purported "debt trap." But the data tells a very different story. David McNair, executive director…

  36. How a Little-Known Chinese Company Conquered Africa's Cell Phone Market

    · 44 min · S16 E8

    Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings is now a massive Chinese technology company that few people outside of Africa and certain parts of Asia have heard of. Even in China, the brand, now the world's 5th-largest mobile…

  37. Why Africa is Now a Key Front in the U.S.-China Rivalry

    · 1 h 00 min · S16 E7

    Donald Trump has never thought very highly of Africa, famously referring to the continent as a place of "sh**hole countries." While there's no indication that sentiment has changed, he's recognized that African…

  38. China's Expanding Military Engagement Across Africa

    · 56 min · S16 E6

    China is rapidly expanding its military engagement with African countries through a combination of joint exercises, growing arms sales, officer training programs, and deeper security cooperation under its Global…

  39. U.S. Pushes New Critical Minerals Bloc to Counter China

    · 1 h 05 min · S16 E5

    The United States wants to build a new global critical minerals supply chain through a new alliance that aims to stabilize prices and reduce dependence on China. Africa sits at the center of this shift, particularly…

  40. Africa and the New World Order: U.S. Pulls Back and China Moves Forward

    · 50 min · S16 E4

    The collapse of the post-war international system now underway will have a disproportionate impact on African countries that rely heavily on multilateral bodies like the UN. Beyond a pull-back of aid and humanitarian…

  41. China's Place in the New Post-American International Order

    · 1 h 06 min · S16 E3

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week will likely be remembered as one of the most significant orations of the early 21st century. Carney channeled the fear and…

  42. What Did Wang Yi Accomplish on His Low-Key Africa Tour?

    · 57 min · S16 E2

    While global attention was fixed on the fallout from U.S. intervention in Venezuela and rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi quietly toured three African countries in a…

  43. Why Wang Yi Chose Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania & Lesotho for His 2026 Africa Tour

    · 58 min · S16 E1

    China's Wang Yi kicked off a four-nation, week-long Africa tour this week, marking a signature tradition for Beijing: making the continent the foreign minister's first overseas trip of the new year. Wang visited…

  44. 2025 China-Africa Year in Review

    · 1 h 02 min · S16 E78

    In this special year-end edition of The China in Africa Podcast, Eric, Cobus, and Géraud look back on the top stories of 2025 and look ahead to the key trend to watch in 2026. 📌 Topics covered include: • Simandou…

  45. China's Outsized Role in West Africa's Illegal Resource Trade

    · 53 min · S16 E77

    Every year, illegal mining, fishing, and logging drain billions of dollars from West Africa's economies as the problem persists largely unchecked, with Chinese actors playing an outsized role. Fueled by chronic…

  46. China's Role in Africa's Industrialization: Obstacle, Partner, or Both?

    · 1 h 06 min · S16 E76

    Africa's industrialization push is colliding with the defining economic question of this era: how can any country or region climb the manufacturing value chain so long as China dominates industrial production of pretty…

  47. Why the U.S.-DRC Mining Deal is Bad News For China

    · 59 min · S16 E75

    The U.S. and the DR Congo signed a landmark deal on critical minerals during President Félix Tshisekedi's visit to the White House this week. The pact provides the U.S. with extraordinary access to the Congolese mining…

  48. China at COP30 and the New Politics of Climate Change

    · 49 min · S16 E74

    With the U.S. absent from two major international summits this month, the G20 in South Africa and the COP30 in Brazil, we got an early look at what the post-American order is starting to look like. In both instances,…

  49. How China Uses Parliamentary Buildings to Build Influence in Africa

    · 42 min · S16 E73 · Bonus

    China has funded, designed, and built more than 200 government buildings across Africa, including the headquarters of the African Union and Ecowas, foreign ministry annexes in Ghana and Kenya, and at least 15 national…

  50. Chinese Nationals' Role in Africa's Illicit Weapons, Mining, and Money Flows

    · 55 min · S16 E72

    There's mounting evidence from the United Nations and others that Chinese organized crime syndicates are moving more of their operations from countries in Southeast Asia to Africa. These groups are contributing to a…

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