“We always thought China’s investments would help our economy,” says Amantha Perera, a Sri Lankan journalist and university researcher. “But now there’s a sense that we’ve been maneuvered into selling some of the family jewels.” Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport,...
China is wedded to “state capitalism”, and is widely viewed as a “modern mercantilist”. A former Time magazine editor, Joshua Cooper Ramo, described that model as the “Beijing Consensus.” Africa has ticked the boxes in the China model, supporting...
While the introductory video is filled with overinflated figures and statistics the discussion is nuanced and scintillating. Stephan Chan, professor at SOAS, Hannah Ryder, former head of Policy and Partnerships for the UNDP, Xiaolin Fu, professor at Oxford,...
Though it might seem like a throwaway summer movie, the authorities appear committed to its vision, producing a parade of breathless praise in state media. After one film critic slammed the movie online as “bloody” and “psychopathic,” her online presence disappeared,...
Sub-Saharan Africa’s most populous nation was for much of the past decade its biggest recipient of foreign direct investment. These days, it trails not just Angola, but Mozambique and Ghana too. When even China’s unfussy investors are having...
For me, it comes down to African agency: Are African governments doing enough to achieve gains that can be shared? Or are their citizens being left to pick up the tab? The issue isn’t just about an increasing amount...
“The regional geopolitics in Asia get refracted outwards globally into these expressions of foreign policy,” says Padraig Carmody, the head of the geography department at Trinity College Dublin and author of, “New Scramble for Africa”. India would appear...
The People’s Republic of China’s ambassador to South Africa, Lin Songtian, says leaders need to stop fighting over positions and put citizens first if they want to realise solid economic growth in the country. “China puts people ahead of government....
When the machines arrived last winter, the villagers in Zamashegu were mesmerized. Then came the gambling. “For me what China is doing here is economic colonialism,” said Esther Armah, a prominent radio host and lecturer at Webster University in...
It would be tempting to write off the Chinese-built Doraleh port in Djibouti, inaugurated in late May, as another phase of Beijing’s African investment spree. China’s state companies have spent years entrenching themselves in the continent’s shipping, mining and...
