The China in Africa Podcast

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 notably low-profile visit.
Eric, Cobus, and Géraud unpack why this understated trip mattered despite attracting little media attention, and examine its timing alongside a controversial BRICS naval exercise held off the coast of South Africa.
📌 Topics covered in this episode:
Why Africa remains China's first diplomatic stop of the year
Wang Yi's low-key tour: Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Lesotho
Somalia–Somaliland tensions and China's security calculus
Ethiopia diplomacy, development messaging, and AU signaling
Tanzania's political reassurance and legacy infrastructure ties
Lesotho market access, tariffs, and geopolitical symbolism
BRICS naval drills off South Africa and U.S. backlash (AGOA/G20)
China's zero-tariff push vs. Africa's limited export gains
Bandung 1955: why Asia–Africa solidarity faded, and what could revive it
Indonesia parallels: Chinese-built infrastructure and nickel-sector controversies
Public opinion shifts: pragmatic views on China and declining U.S. appeal
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social
Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: 
French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas
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

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 Ethiopia and will also travel to Somalia, Tanzania, and Lesotho in southern Africa.
Ovigwe Eguegu, a Nigeria-based policy analyst for Development Reimagined, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss why these four countries made the itinerary, and what Beijing may be signaling geopolitically and economically.
📌 Topics covered include:
Why Africa is China's first diplomatic stop in 2026
Somalia Somaliland and great power competition
Ethiopia debt diplomacy and AU politics
Tanzania ports and the TAZARA railway
Lesotho tariffs AGOA fallout and symbolism
China positioning itself as a multilateral partner in Africa
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social
Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: 
French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas
Join us 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

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 goes online (Guinea) and the iron ore geopolitics shift
Zambia's Kafue River spill and the China narrative battle
China's manufacturing push, overcapacity, and export pressures
Soybeans and South America's growing leverage in U.S.–China trade
China–India détente and what it changes (and doesn't)
G20 turbulence around South Africa and global governance fractures
2026 outlook: Southeast Asia rivalry, Zimbabwe lithium value-add, Senegal hidden debt
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social
Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: 
French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas
Join us 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

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 corruption among local regulators across the region and seemingly insatiable demand for these resources in China, curtailing these illegal activities often feels impossible.
But there's still hope. Earlier this year, a group of 21 scholars and analysts, mostly from West Africa, came together to develop new solutions and policy recommendations to reform the mining, timber, and fishing trades, empowering local communities while reducing local corruption.
Their findings were released earlier this fall in a series of three reports co-published by the Keogh School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.
Two of the project organizations, Notre Dame Professor Joshua Eisenman, and Caroline Costello, assistant director of the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, join Eric & Géraud to discuss the reports and how China can play a constructive role in helping to end illegal resource extraction in West Africa.
📌 Topics covered include:
China's environmental footprint in West Africa
Why illegal extraction persists despite strong laws
The politics behind "China-free" resource corridors
Lessons from China's ivory ban and whether rosewood could be next
What African governments — not just China — must do differently
Download the reports:
Chinese mining in West Africa: Responding to the environmental and social impacts
Chinese fishing in West Africa: Responding to the environmental and social impacts
Chinese demand for timber and wildlife in West Africa: Responding to the environmental and social impacts
Show Notes:
The Financial Times: The American company seeking to counter China in Africa by David Pilling and Leslie Hook
Foreign Policy: China's Appetite for Rosewood Is Causing Chaos in Africa by Joshua Eisenman and Caroline Costello
Environmental Investigation Agency: New Report Finds That Home Depot Sold Illegally Sourced Tropical Wood for Years
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social
Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: 
French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas
Join us 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

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 much, well, everything? 
But even if overcoming the China question is possible, African leaders then face a second, more daunting obstacle: infrastructure. The lack of reliable power, water, roads, and other infrastructure necessary to support industrialization is severe in many parts of the continent.
A new book by Professor Carlos Oya, a preeminent China-Africa scholar at the University of London, details China's complex role in Africa's pursuit of industrialization. Eric & Cobus speak with Carlos about how China is simultaneously a big challenge and an important part of the solution.
Topics covered
Why industrialization is back at the center of African economic strategy
The infrastructure constraint: electricity costs, reliability, and targeted hubs
Ethiopia's experience: what worked, what didn't, and why it mattered
China's evolving role: from policy-bank infrastructure to private manufacturing plays
The evidence on "Chinese labor" myths and what research actually shows
Download the book (free):
Cambridge University Press: China for Africa's Industrialization? by Carlos Oya
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social
Follow CGSP in French and Spanish: 
French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas
Join us 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