The China in Africa Podcast

19 media outlets together with five NGOs in the U.S. and Europe pored through 3.5 million leaked documents from a Gabonese bank to produce Congo Hold-Up, a landmark report that detailed breathtaking corruption in the DR Congo during the presidency of Joseph Kabila in the early 2000s. Chinese entities, including the joint venture mining company Sicomines, were implicated in the findings (although Sicomines denies any allegation of corruption), specifically relating to the dealings of one man, Du Wei. William Clowes and Michael Kavanagh, two senior journalists at Bloomberg News with extensive experience reporting in the DR Congo, were among the journalists who participated in the investigation. They spent six months working on the project and traced the activities of Du and the role he played as a middleman between Chinese corporate actors and power brokers in Kinshasa. William and Michael join Eric & Cobus to discuss their reporting as part of the Congo Hold-Up investigation and the small role that Chinese entities played in this multimillion-dollar corruption scandal. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @mjkcongo | @wtbclowes JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With the end of the year fast approaching and time running out to get everything into the last remaining shows of the season, we're bringing you a special double episode this week. First, join us for an in-depth discussion with Andy Mok, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing for a Chinese perspective on the recent FOCAC conference plus his insights on how African countries should best manage the increasingly acrimonious great power rivalry between the U.S. and China. Then, we'll delve into the recent stories related to the supposed Chinese seizure of Uganda's international airport, UK allegations of Chinese debt traps, and the Pentagon's assertion the PLA wants to build an Atlantic base in Africa and why all of these stories have been so poorly reported by so many international news organizations. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque @andymok JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For much of the past two decades, China was among the largest sources of African infrastructure financing. But that is no longer the case. In his recent keynote address at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation conference in Senegal, Chinese President Xi Jinping never mentioned the world infrastructure and the topic was largely absent from the final declaration. The timing of China's withdrawal from the space couldn't be worse as the demand for new roads, power, and railways across the continent steadily rise. But Johnson Kilangi, founder and CEO of the infrastructure consultancy Lean Africa Consultants Limited, is nonetheless optimistic that new financing models will help to fill the gap. Johsnon joins Eric & Cobus from Nairobi to discuss why he thinks more private sector participation is going to make the difference. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque @johnsonkilangi JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The ongoing supply chain disruptions are having a profound impact on the types of goods that consumers in Africa and other Global South countries can access. It used to cost just $1,000 a container to ship low-cost socks, shoes, electronics, and other goods that once flooded African markets. Today, the shipping cost for that same container is now $8,000 and rising -- making it possible to send only high-value goods from China that can offset those surging shipping costs. Walter Ruigu, managing director of CAMAL Group Ltd, says once the supply chain goes back to normal those costs will come down again but no one knows for sure when that will happen. And in the meantime, he warns, the consumer will pay the price. Walter joins Eric & Cobus from Beijing to discuss the latest trends in China-Africa trade and he also shares his take on the latest FOCAC conference that recently wrapped up in Senegal. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque  SHOW NOTES: Contact Walter Ruigi at CAMAL Group Ltd.: https://camaltd.com/contact-us/ Business Daily: How I built Kenya’s first phone USB cable firm: https://bit.ly/3pCA5jN JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The eighth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation conference wrapped up this week in Senegal. The event itself generated a lot of news but it was far from the only thing going on this week. The Europeans sought to try and upstage FOCAC with their new Global Gateway infrastructure initiative that they revealed on the last day of the Dakar forum, plus Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made an unannounced trip to Ethiopia and a controversy over the Entebbe International Airport in Uganda hung over FOCAC. Eric & Cobus try to make sense of what was an incredibly busy and important week. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque  JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

While China has dramatically curtailed its bilateral development financing in Africa and other regions around the world, Beijing is increasing its engagement in multilateral and regional development banks around the world, including the African Development Bank among others. This points to an important, yet little understood trend about China's growing influence in international financial institutions. Two reports have come out recently, one from the Center for Global Development and the other from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), that explore China's role in these multilateral institutions. Yunnan Chen, a senior research officer at ODI and a co-author of the ODI analysis on the issue, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss how Beijing is turning to these institutions "to pursue its geopolitical agenda and to promote alternate norms of global governance." SHOW NOTES: Overseas Development Institute: China in the multilateral development banks: evolving strategies of a new power by Yunnan Chen and Chris Humphrey: https://bit.ly/3CR6AiD Center for Global Development: Mapping China’s Rise in the Multilateral System by Scott Morris, Rowan Rockafellow and Sarah Rose: https://bit.ly/3nSogWX WEBINAR: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30TH AT 14:00GMT: China's role in the multilateral development banks -- RSVP: https://bit.ly/3nSosp9 JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @yunnanchen JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Trade issues are widely expected to top the agenda at next week's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation ministerial conference in Dakar. African countries will be looking for China to further widen its market to agricultural and processed raw materials and China is seeking ways to reduce the gaping trade surpluses that it currently maintains with most countries across the continent. Yike Fu, a research and policy analyst at Development Reimagined based in Hangzhou, and Patrick Anam, a trade lawyer and also a policy analyst at Development Reimagined, both closely follow the latest China-Africa trade trends and join Eric & Cobus to share their outlook for what to expect at FOCAC. SHOW NOTES: SAIIA: Mapping the Future of China–Africa Relations: How the Continent can Benefit by Yike Fu and Ovigwe Eguegu SAIIA: China’s BRI and the AfCFTA: Potential Overlaps, Complementarities and Challenges by Yike Fu and Ovigwe Eguegu Development Reimagined: From China-Africa to Africa-China: A Blueprint for a Green and Inclusive Continent-wide Africa Strategy Towards China JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque  JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This year's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) conference will take place amid considerable uncertainty in the global economy and profound economic changes underway in China. As such, it's widely expected that the outputs from the upcoming forum will be very different from previous FOCACs. Gone will be the large mega-loans to build massive infrastructure projects across the continent and instead, observers expect a series of smaller, more targeted initiatives centered on new priorities in digital, health, and green energy development. Many of those forecasts of what to expect in Dakar were outlined in a recent collection of articles published by the LSE IDEAS China Foresight team at the London School of Economics "FOCAC at 21: Future Trajectories of China-Africa Relations." Stephen Paduano, executive director of the LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission, and Mzukisi Qobo, head of the Wits School of Governance at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, both contributed to the LSE report and join Eric & Cobus to discuss the key economic issues that will frame this year's FOCAC conference. SHOW NOTES: LSE IDEAS China Foresight: FOCAC at 21: Future Trajectories of China-Africa Relations: https://bit.ly/3m04jg2 PALGRAVE MACMILLAN: The Political Economy of China-US Relations - Digital Futures and African Agency by Mzukisi Qobo: https://bit.ly/3p0uPGz JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque |@stephenpaduano JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In these contentious times, China is often accused of exporting its statist economic model to Africa and other developing regions as part of a broader ideological agenda to create a new Sinocentric international order. But Tsinghua University Professor Tang Xiaoyang argues in his new book published earlier this year that interpretation is a gross misunderstanding of what actually motivates Chinese economic engagement on the continent. Professor Tang joins Eric & Cobus from Beijing to make the case why pragmatism, not ideology is the driving force behind China's economic agenda in Africa. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Technology is expected to be one of the main pillars of discussion at the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation conference that will take place in Dakar at the end of the month. And the stakes for both sides are very high. With its access to markets in the Global North contracting as more governments impose barriers on Chinese technology products and services, Beijing will need to lean more on its already sizable presence in developing regions like Africa. Similarly, African governments are also looking to China to continue to provide affordable technology that can be quickly installed using low-interest state-backed loans. Jonathan Hillman, a senior fellow in the economics program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. outlined the key forces behind these trends in his new book about China's Digital Silk Road and what he thinks the U.S. government needs to do to respond to the challenge. SHOW NOTES: Amazon.com: purchase a Kindle or audio version of The Digital Silk Road: China's Quest to Wire the World and Win the Future by Jonathan E. Hillman: https://amzn.to/3C2Ry9e Foreign Affairs: Huawei Strikes Back - To Beat China on Tech, America Must Invest in the Developing World by Jonathan Hillman: https://fam.ag/3Calws3 Field Notes: subscribe to Jonathan Hillman's monthly email newsletter about Chinese projects and geoeconomics: https://hillman.substack.com/ JOIN THE DISCUSSION: CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @hillmanje JOIN US ON PATREON! Become a CAP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff including our Week in Review report, invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CAP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaafricaproject See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.