Our podcast conversation this week with the Kenyan economist Anzetse Were was a feast of insights. Among these was her point that there is a massive lag between financing for climate mitigation versus climate adaptation. The former refers to measures directly aimed at reducing future greenhouse gas emissions that further worsen global warming. The latter relates to how we’ll adapt our societies to deal with the emissions already in our atmosphere. These ...
Country: African Union
China’s African Union Ambassador Previews Some of the Themes That Will be Raised at the Upcoming FOCAC Summit
China's mission to the African Union hosted an online forum on Wednesday where Ambassador Li Yuxi previewed some of the themes, albeit not in any great detail, that will be raised at the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit that is expected to take place at the ...
By the Numbers: New Report Breaks Down Current State of China-Africa Trade and Economic Ties
The Chinese government published a lengthy 108-page report on Saturday that details the current state of economic and trade ties with Africa. The timing of the report's release was intended to coincide with the opening of the China-Africa Trade Expo that began in Changsha on ...
Which Way is West?
One of the fun aspects of the China-Africa Project is that we don’t always agree. The work of pulling in different perspectives means that how we see reality is itself a negotiation, drawing on our different backgrounds. For example, one of the issues where Eric and I ...
The African Union Is the Latest International Organization to Receive COVID-19 Donations From China
The African Union Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Bankole Adeoye, took delivery late last week of a batch of 15,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines donated by the Chinese government. Chen Xufeng, the chargé d'affaires at the Chinese mission to the AU, said the vaccines were intended ...
The Impact of China’s Financing for Coal on Climate Change and Agriculture in Africa
Back in September 2020, President Xi Jinping announced China would aim for carbon neutrality by 2060, followed by setting more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for 2030. Such bold commitments appeared to reflect Beijing progressing towards adopting climate-friendly policies, premised on low-carbon and renewable technologies. ...
New Report Examines Where Africa Fits Into China’s Global Strategic Vision
Understanding where Africa fits within China's broader strategic geopolitical vision is something of a mystery to many outside observers. Most international reporting and research on the issue relies on English or French language materials that go a long way to frame the prevailing narratives about Chinese priorities ...
Popular American YouTuber Condenses China-Africa Relations Into a Slickly Produced 15 Minute Video
Popular current affairs YouTuber American YouTuber Johnny Harris (1.42 million subscribers) dedicated a recent episode of his show to exploring Chinese engagement in Africa. For those with a more sophisticated understanding of the topic, it will be easy ...
After Dropping AstraZeneca From Its Vaccine Plan, the Africa CDC Looks to Sinopharm For Jabs
The Africa Center for Disease Control is reportedly in "advanced stage of discussions" to secure supplies of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine. "We are hopeful the discussion will lead to a favorable pronouncement on the emergency use authorization of Sinopharm's coronavirus vaccine. This will increase the pool of our ...
How Would Africa Have Managed COVID-19 Without the Africa CDC? The Role of China
Two types of images have dominated the global media’s coverage of Africa the past year. The first has been pictures of cargo planes packed with medical supplies, framing Africa’s COVID response as handled through foreign aid by partners such as China. The other image has been of ...
Inclusion Talk and Its Limits
On Friday, the official White House Twitter account posted a brief video featuring a message from President Joe Biden to the African Union. In the message he expresses support for the AU summit, and solidarity with the peoples of Africa in dealing with crises like ...