The China in Africa Podcast

Known as the "quiet community," the Chinese in South Africa have built complex social and business networks that largely exist outside of the margins of the country's fractious racial and political landscape. That is now beginning to change with China's emergence as South Africa's most important trading partner and one of the country's largest sources of foreign direct investment. Barry van Wyk, Project Coordinator of the Africa-China Reporting Project at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, focused on two specific areas, law enforcement and in-language local Chinese media, that have been little-understood by outsiders. Barry joins Eric & Cobus to discuss the findings for his upcoming paper and addresses some of the more controversial aspects of the Chinese community's ties with the Chinese government. Join the discussion and let us know what you think. Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @witschinaafrica Email: [email protected] Be sure to join our weekly email newsletter mailing list for a carefully curated selection of the week's top China-Africa news. Sign up here. Disclosure: The China Africa Project is a grant recipient of the Africa-China Reporting Project at Wits University. Click here for more information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Africans have long dreamed of trans-continental travel, allowing for people and goods to seamlessly move by road or rail from Cairo to Cape Town or Dakar to Djibouti. While a north-south transportation network is still unfathomable, an east-west corridor is actually taking shape thanks in part to massive amounts of Chinese financing. Large sections of a proposed network of highways, known as Trans-Africa Highways 5 and 6, that aims to connect Senegal in the east with Djibouti via Chad, have already been built. If fully completed, this new coast-to-coast road system would extend more than 8,700 kilometers. It's a hugely risky undertaking as host governments along the route are loading up on potentially dangerous levels of debt, largely from Chinese lenders. And, once the highways are built, maintaining them will be another massive undertaking, particularly in countries like Mali, Chad and Sudan who are all dealing with violent insurgencies. In this week's show, Cobus discusses his recent essay on how, despite the enormous challenges, China may actually help African states along this east-west corridor to achieve this long held dream of building a transport link. Join the discussion. Do you think it's worth the risk to try and build this trans-Africa highway or should these governments avoid taking on yet more Chinese debt? Let us know what you think. Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque Email: [email protected] | [email protected] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The opening of China's first overseas military base located in Djibouti is the most visible example of China's expanded security interests in Africa. However, behind the scenes, Chinese officials are moving to expand their relationships with African militaries across the continent. Earlier this summer, 50 African military leaders spent two weeks in Beijing to attend the inaugural China-Africa Defense and Security Forum. The event was organized by the Chinese government in preparation for the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) leaders summit that will take place in Beijing in September. Wake Forest University China-Africa scholar Lina Benabdallah is among a growing number of experts who are carefully monitoring China's rapidly evolving security ties in Africa. Lina joins Eric & Cobus to talk about how China's military strategy in Africa differs so much from that of the United States and why she thinks African militaries are increasingly eager to work with their counterparts in the People's Liberation Army. Join the discussion. What do you think of China's expanded military presence in Africa? Are you happy to hear that Beijing is stepping up its contribution to multinational peacekeeping on the continent or worried that yet another foreign power's armies will misbehave in Africa? Let us know what you think. Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadeneseque | @LBenabdallah Email: [email protected] Read Lina's Washington Post column: China-Africa military ties have deepened. Here are 4 things to know. Be sure to join our weekly email newsletter mailing list for a carefully curated selection of the week's top China-Africa news. Sign up here. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Author Irene Yuan Sun argues in her now book that Africa is poised to become the world's next manufacturing boosted by Chinese investment and production expertise. With costs steadily rising in the PRC, more and more companies are looking to offshore production from China to more affordable countries. Africa and its abundant population of young workers, free trade access into the US market and proximity to the European Union make it an attractive investment destination for cost conscious manufacturers. But Africa is not alone vying for the estimated 85 million jobs that will be in play as China transitions away from manufacturing to a services/consumption-based economy. African countries will have to compete vigorously against Vietnam, India and other Asian nations to lure Chinese manufacturers. Time is also a key factor. Major international manufacturing companies like Foxconn and Pegatron, contract manufacturers that both produce hi-tech products for Apple, HP and Dell among others, are working very hard to automate their production lines using robots powered by artificial intelligence. With more companies, including once low-tech industries like apparel and furniture assembly, moving as quickly as possible to automate their production lines, African policy-makers must no doubt be concerned that with the pace and sophistication of automation steadily increasing, might encourage Chinese manufacturers to keep their operations rolling back home, albeit with fewer workers. Sun, for her part, argues the fear of technological dislocation is overblown. "The essential point automation alarmists miss is that technological adoption happens through millions of individual decisions by companies that are constrained by the demands of their value chain, the financing capability of their balance sheets, and their own managerial know- how. Just because they could produce something in a more automated way doesn’t mean they will," she said. Already, Sun contends, Chinese-factories in Africa are using robotics and automation with human labor still playing an essential role throughout the production process. Sun joins Eric & Cobus to talk about her new book, "The Next Factory of the World: How Chinese Investment is Reshaping Africa." The book is part travelogue, part business intelligence of a fascinating trend that operates largely out of sight yet has potentially massive implications for the future direction of almost every economy in Africa. Join the discussion. Do you think Africa is well positioned to become the world's next manufacturing powerhouse or do you think the high-levels of corruption, poor infrastructure and weak governance in many parts of the continent will inhibit this kind of industrial development? Let us know what you think. Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kenya's National Environmental Tribunal ruled this week that the government and its industry-allies failed to submit a proper environmental impact assessment to build a coal power on Lamu island. The $2 billion plant, with more than half of the financing coming from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), was projected to produce 1,050 megawatts of badly-needed electricity. But that power would have likely come at a very high environmental cost. Environmental activists warned that the plant would have increased Kenya's carbon emissions by 700% and caused serious damage to local farms and fishing grounds. The government now has 30 days to appeal the ruling. There's been no official response from ICBC or the Chinese government as to how they plan to respond to the tribunal's decision. Critics of the proposed plant want to encourage China to walk away from this project, rightly pointing out that building coal plants in pristine environments like Lamu does not help China's environmental image in Africa. Instead, they argue, there's an opportunity here for Beijing to align its rhetoric on sustainability and green technology along its Belt and Road trade route with financing that will go to support renewable electricity initiatives. Omar Elmawi, a campaign coordinator for the anti-coal advocacy group DeCOALonize that was also plantiff in the case against that went before the environmental tribunal, is cautiously optimistic that both the Chinese and Kenya supporters of the plant will back down. But, it's still too early to tell. Omar joins Eric and Cobus to discuss the Lamu coal plant case and why Kenya didn't actually need this plant to fulfill its power requirements given the abundance of renewable resources at its disposal. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: What do you think of the tribunal's decision and how do you think the Chinese-financiers of the proposed Lamu coal power plant should respond? Should they take Omar's advice and just walk away from this project or do you think they should come back to engage activistis like DeCOALonize on how to finance new renewable electric power projects? Let us know what you think. Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @deCOALonize | @Justice_Elmawi Email: [email protected] | [email protected] Sign up here if you would like to join our weekly email newsletter mailing list for a carefully curated selection of the week's top China-Africa news. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.