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The China in Africa Podcast

SupChina

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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Top 10 The China in Africa Podcast Episodes

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China-Africa engagement: has it peaked?

The China in Africa Podcast

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12/18/13 • 22 min

The cost and difficulty of doing business in Africa is going up for the Chinese, prompting new concerns that the era of endless flows of Chinese cash may now be coming to an end. Beijing-based attorney and Sino-African investment advisor Kai Xue joins us to discuss why he foresees a major slow-down in Chinese outbound investment towards Africa. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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12/18/13 • 22 min

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Chinese media perceptions of Africa

The China in Africa Podcast

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12/15/13 • 23 min

China's presence in African media has increased dramatically in recent years but the presence of Africans and Africa as a whole remains extremely limited on Chinese television. This week, Sino-African media scholar Bob Wekesa joins us to discuss Chinese media perceptions and news coverage of Africa. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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12/15/13 • 23 min

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01/17/20 • 51 min

China's role in the African tech market is rapidly evolving away from just being a source of low-cost electronics to becoming the indispensable player in the continent's rapidly developing market for digital services, networking equipment and venture capital financing.

But the good also comes with the bad. Although Chinese companies like Transsion, Boomplay, Huawei and many others are launching one exciting product after another, these same firms are also taking advantage of Africa's weak digital governance. Sensitive issues over data rights, online surveillance and digital privacy are largely ignored in most African countries.

This week, Eric & Cobus speak with Stephany Zoo, founder of the Nairobi-based China-Africa Tech Initiative and head of marketing and communications at AZA Finance, a currency trading firm located in Kenya, about what to expect in the China-Africa tech sector in 2020.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject

Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @CuriousZoo

LinkedIn: Stephany Zoo

SUPPORT THIS PODCAST. BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECT.

Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following:

1. A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news.

2. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network

3. Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com

Subscribe today and get two-weeks free: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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01/17/20 • 51 min

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01/06/20 • 57 min

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 in the year ahead. Join us for a wide-ranging discussion that covers everything surging Chinese tech investment in Africa, sustainable energy development to the question over whether African countries will be able to repay their debts to China. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque SUPPORT THIS PODCAST. BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECT. Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following: A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com Subscribe today and get one month free with the promo code PODCAST: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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01/06/20 • 57 min

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The recent kidnapping of three Chinese miners in the southwestern Nigerian state of Osun highlights the vulnerability that confronts the Chinese in many parts of Africa. Chinese companies are well-known for being willing to work in highly volatile regions, even amid civil wars in places like the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Mali among others. Until recently, Chinese companies opted to not invest in security measures or contracted with international firms like G4S who've been active on the continent for many years. That's now starting to change as Chinese private security contractors see an opportunity to provide protective services to companies all along the Belt and Road including Africa. "In light of China’s “going out’’ policy, the need to support China’s State-Owned Enterprises that are investing in high-risk areas has expanded the Chinese market for security services," according to Dr. Alessandro Arduino, Co-Director of the Security & Crisis Management International Centre at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. "Risk assessment and mitigation in the African countries participating in the BRI requires a wide range of security services along both the maritime and land routes," he added in a recent column written for the China-Africa Research Initiative. Dr. Arduino joins Eric to discuss the growing market for Chinese protective services in Africa and the risks confronting these security contractors who are operating in new, unfamiliar territory. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque SUPPORT THIS PODCAST. BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECT. Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following: A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com Subscribe today and get one month free with the promo code PODCAST: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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12/20/19 • 42 min

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12/12/19 • 35 min

Chinese ambassadors in Africa rarely grant one-on-one interviews with international journalists. But that's starting to change now, particularly as a few Chinese envoys are making themselves more accessible to the press and on social media platforms like Twitter. Two ambassadors are especially noteworthy in this area: Lin Songtian in South Africa and Wu Peng in Kenya. Ambassador Wu recently sat down with BBC journalist Dickens Olewe for an interview at the embassy in Nairobi. During the interview, they discussed some of the most sensitive issues that confront the China-Kenya relationship today. Dickens joins Eric to provide a bit of background on how he was able to secure the interview and what he thought of Ambassador Wu's responses to questions about transparency, racism and whether China is engaging in predatory lending in Africa. SHOW NOTES: Listen to Dickens Olewe's full interview with China's ambassador to Kenya Wu Peng. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @dickensolewe SUPPORT THIS PODCAST. BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECT. Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following: A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com Subscribe today and get one month free with the promo code PODCAST: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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12/12/19 • 35 min

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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 expect. For the most part, both are dominated by small family farms that have to battle mightily with the twin effects of climate change and industrialization. On the climate change front, drought haunts many parts of both China and Africa as deserts expand and rainfall becomes increasingly intermittent in some areas. Similarly, both China and Africa do not produce enough food to feed themselves and therefore depend on imported food to survive, so the stakes for agriculture in both regions are extremely high. And, in terms of industrialization, in Africa, just as it is in China, the lure of jobs in the cities pulls more and more young people off the land in search of a better life. Given that China has gone through many of the same challenges that African farmers encounter today, there's a huge opportunity for the Chinese to leverage that experience in its aid and development programs. To get some perspective on Chinese agricultural engagement in Africa, Eric & Cobus are joined by Xingqing Lu, an Associate Program Manager from the independent non-profit organization Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @Xinqing_Lu SUPPORT THIS PODCAST. BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECT. Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following: A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com Subscribe today and get one month free with the promo code PODCAST: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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12/03/19 • 41 min

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News coverage and social media commentary about the recent deal signed between the Ghanian government and the Chinese state-owned construction conglomerate Sinohydro is almost universally negative. According to deal, Ghana would exchange 5% of its bauxite reserves for $2 billion of infrastructure. But critics in Ghana and internationally contend the deal doesn't make sense and is just too risky both financially and environmentally. If bauxite prices fall then Accra would be on the hook to make up the difference, potentially costing the country millions of dollars. Equally concerning is the fact that the mines are located in the Atewa Forest Preserve, one of West Africa's most important ecological zones and also a critical source for an estimated 5 million people. The government, for its part, has struggled to challenge critics and present counter-arguments as to why this deal is in the best of the country and will not jeopardize fragile ecosystems. Ghana, they argue, has been responsibly mining bauxite for years so why all of a sudden is everyone so worried that this deal, in particular, is so risky? Henry Kyeremeh is the Head of the Bank Accounts, Reserves and Interventions Unit at the Treasury and Debt Management Division in the Ghanian Ministry of Finance. He's a strong advocate for this deal as he believes it's the most efficient way for the government to leverage natural resources to build badly-needed infrastructure without taking new loans. Henry joins Eric & Cobus to provide a different perspective on the Ghana-Sinohydrop deal than what has been portrayed in the news media and online. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: It's important to note that although Henry is a senior official in the finance ministry, in this interview he's not speaking in any official capacity on behalf of the Ghanian government and only sharing his personal views on this issue. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @pazeeboy SUPPORT THIS PODCAST. BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECT. Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following: A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com Subscribe today and get one month free with the promo code PODCAST: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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12/06/19 • 35 min

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11/30/19 • 45 min

Chinese investors have been wary of the African market. For a long time, China's cash-rich venture capital, private equity, and corporate investors have preferred the stability in the U.S. or the cultural familiarity in Southeast Asia's markets. Africa, in their view, just didn't have the profile they were looking for as an investment destination. Many felt the risk was just too high in fragmented markets where consumers lacked sufficient wealth to generate the kind of returns their portfolios demand. Well, that's no longer the case. Now that Chinese money is increasingly viewed as "toxic" in the United States and Africa's consumer markets are beginning to mature, Chinese investors are increasingly getting over the fears they once had about engaging the African market. Chinese private sector investment in Africa surged this year with hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into a variety of sectors across the continent: Apparel: manufacturers are fleeing China's rising labor costs to set up new factories in places like Rwanda and Ethiopia. Electronics: little known Chinese OEMs are setting up small factories in places like Uganda to be able to cut shipping costs and take advantage of Africa's preferential trade agreements with EU and US markets. Mobile tech: Giants like Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings are rapidly expanding into new markets beyond hardware including music and fintech among others. Fintech: Without a doubt, the rush of Chinese investment into Africa's (largely in Nigeria) fast-growing mobile payments space is the story of the year. So far, they've committed around a quarter-billion dollars with more expected. The list goes on and on... from Huawei in the telecom sector to Beijing-based African pay-TV giant StarTimes that's now making sizable investments in original content production and programming. And these are just the big names who get most of the attention. There are countless other small-to-medium-sized Chinese businesses active in every country across the continent doing everything from running factories that serve local markets to resource extraction. But in order for Chinese investors, particularly those with large portfolios, to successfully to do deals in Africa, they need help, middlemen who can guide them through these very complex markets. So more banks in Africa are hiring people like Kai Zhu to be those guides. Kai is the China-Africa Corridor Deal Team Leader at Absa Group, the Johannesburg-based financial services company that is also Africa's third-largest bank. Kai joins Eric & Cobus to talk about what's behind China's increased investor interest in Africa and where he sees the trend going in 2020. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque SUPPORT THIS PODCAST. BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECT. Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following: A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com Subscribe today and get one month free with the promo code PODCAST: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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11/30/19 • 45 min

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01/10/20 • 40 min

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi kicked off his annual tour of Africa in Cairo this week where he met with senior Egyptian leaders to discuss the growing instability in North Africa, the Mideast, and the Persian Gulf. Wang also found a receptive audience in Egypt for China's controversial policies in its far western province of Xinjiang where hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of Chinese, are being "re-educated" (the Chinese version of events) or forcibly interned (the Western assessment). Beyond geopolitics, China also has a lot at stake economically in these regions as countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia are among its largest suppliers of crude oil. Camille Lons follows these issues from Bahrain where she is a Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. She was also the Project Editor on the October 2019 paper "China's Great Game in the Middle East" that was published by the European Council on Foreign Relations. Camille joins Eric & Cobus this week to discuss whether China will among the key beneficiaries of the ongoing crisis between the United States and Iran. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @CamilleLons SUPPORT THIS PODCAST. BECOME A SUBSCRIBER TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECT. Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following: A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com Subscribe today and get one month free with the promo code PODCAST: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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01/10/20 • 40 min

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FAQ

How many episodes does The China in Africa Podcast have?

The China in Africa Podcast currently has 752 episodes available.

What topics does The China in Africa Podcast cover?

The podcast is about News, Trade, News Commentary, Podcasts, China, Africa and Politics.

What is the most popular episode on The China in Africa Podcast?

The episode title 'China-Africa engagement: has it peaked?' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The China in Africa Podcast?

The average episode length on The China in Africa Podcast is 42 minutes.

How often are episodes of The China in Africa Podcast released?

Episodes of The China in Africa Podcast are typically released every 5 days.

When was the first episode of The China in Africa Podcast?

The first episode of The China in Africa Podcast was released on Oct 29, 2012.

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