This week Eric & Cobus sit down with Wu Peng, the director-general of the department of African affairs in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for his perspective on a wide range of issues that are impacting relations between the two regions.

The conversation also features questions from a trio of experts in China-Africa relations including:

• Gyude Moore, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development (@gyude_moore)
• Zainab Usman, director of the Africa program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (@MissZeeUsman)
• Aggrey Mutambo, senior diplomatic affairs writer for the Daily Nation and The East African newspaper (@agmutambo)

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Since its inception in 2013, Chinese government officials have insisted that the Belt and Road is solely an economic initiative and does not have any military motivations. But the BRI's civil-military distinction is no longer as clear cut as it used to be. President Xi Jinping himself called for a strong BRI security system to protect China's overseas interests, people and property.

One little-known aspect of the BRI is that much of the overseas construction, particularly ports, must conform to standards that conform to the People's Liberation Army's requirements. So, while today there's little evidence that China is leveraging the BRI for security or military purposes, there are concerns that it is positioning to be able to do so in the future should the need arise.

Daniel Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute, examined the security dimensions of the BRI in a recent paper. Daniel joins Eric & Cobus to discuss what he calls the Belt and Road's "civil-military fusion" in maritime, terrestrial and space environments.

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Watch a discussion with the authors of ASPI's report Weaponizing the Belt and Road Initiative: https://youtu.be/PX5PnnnYrFw

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Quite often, foreign leaders travel to China without a clear strategy for turning high-level diplomacy into tangible economic gains. This was on display earlier this year when U.S. President Donald Trump's much-hyped summit yielded few actionable outcomes.

Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah took a different approach during her visit to Beijing in July. She arrived with specific priorities, a clear understanding of Namibia's leverage, and a strong focus on investment, value addition, and job creation.

Ovigwe Eguegu and Huiyi Chen, policy analysts at the international development consultancy Development Reimagined, argued in a column published in The Diplomat that Nandi-Ndaitwah's approach offers important lessons for other leaders, particularly in Africa, on how to turn high-level visits to China into meaningful outcomes.

They join Eric and Geraud to discuss those lessons and what other African governments can learn from Namibia's approach.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🇳🇦 Namibia's strategy for engaging China
🇨🇳 Turning high-level diplomacy into tangible outcomes
💰 Attracting Chinese investment and financing
🏭 Promoting value addition and industrialization
💼 Creating jobs through strategic partnerships
♟️ Understanding and leveraging Africa's bargaining power
🌍 Lessons for other African leaders engaging Beijing

Show Notes:

• The Diplomat: As the World Courts Beijing, Namibia Shows How Africa Can Sharpen Its China Strategy by Ovigwe Eguegu and Huiyi Chen
• The China-Global South Project: Tshisekedi's Trip to China Was a Total Waste of Time and It's His Fault by Eric Olander
• South China Morning Post: Why Kenyan President Ruto's visit is a 'symbolic' win for China as US tariffs rock world by Jevans Nyabiage

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X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

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• French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
• Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas

China-Africa trade is surging and could top $400 billion this year, but the headline figure obscures a relationship that remains heavily concentrated among a small number of countries and increasingly tilted toward Chinese exports.

Much of what Africa sells to China is still made up of commodities and raw materials, while Chinese exports increasingly include machinery, chemicals, components, and other intermediate goods that can support local manufacturing and industrial development.

The bigger question is whether African countries should focus less on trying to eliminate trade deficits with China and more on using cheaper Chinese inputs, improving their domestic business environments, and expanding intra-African trade to build stronger and more competitive economies.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode:
🇨🇳 China-Africa trade heading toward record highs
⚖️ Understanding Africa's widening trade deficit with China
🏭 How Chinese intermediate goods can support African industrialization
📦 Why African exports to China remain dominated by raw materials
🌍 Using intra-African trade to strengthen African economies
💰 Whether China's zero-tariff policy can really change the trade relationship

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X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @cgneema

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YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

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• Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas

China's influence in Africa's media landscape increasingly operates through content-sharing agreements, journalist training, paid placements, and support for local broadcasters. These "below-the-line" strategies give Chinese narratives a pathway into African newsrooms that extends well beyond the reach of traditional state outlets such as CGTN and Xinhua.

But the push for greater Chinese influence raises a deeper question about decolonization. While Beijing presents its media engagement as an alternative to Western dominance, African journalists can be exposed to models of reporting that do not necessarily fit local political and social realities. At the same time, the shift toward social media makes the actual impact of these efforts increasingly difficult to measure.

Emeka Umejei, a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, joins Eric and Cobus to discuss the arguments from his book China in African Media: Between Influence Operations and Decolonization, content-sharing agreements, journalist training, and the future of African media independence.

Show Notes

• China in African Media: Between Influence Operations and Decolonization by Emeka Umejei

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• China's evolving media influence across Africa
• The rise of content-sharing agreements with African news outlets
• Journalist training, media exchanges, and the spread of Chinese reporting models
• The tension between China's "decolonization" narrative and African media independence
• How Chinese economic engagement strengthens its media influence
• The shift toward social media and the uncertain impact of foreign media campaigns on African audiences

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X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander I @stadenesque I @emekaumejei

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China's popularity across Africa remains strong, with new Afrobarometer polling showing Beijing again outperforming the U.S. and Europe in public perception. But those favorable views are far from straightforward, shaped by perceptions of China's development success, frustration with Western powers, and Africans' own experiences with Chinese engagement.

Ebenezer Obadare, the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, joins Eric & Cobus to unpack what the polling reveals about China's enduring appeal and shifting African views of the U.S. and Europe.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode:

🇨🇳 Why China remains popular across Africa
📊 What Afrobarometer's latest polling reveals
🇺🇸 Changing African views of the U.S. and Europe
🏗️ The appeal of China's development model
🤝 How Chinese engagement shapes perceptions
🌍 Why U.S.-China rivalry isn't zero-sum in Africa

Show Notes:

• Afrobarometer: African insights 2026: Beyond borders: Citizen perspectives on a shifting global order
• The Africa Report: Poll: US lags behind China in African hearts and minds by Julian Pecquet
• Foreign Affairs: How China Is Winning Friends and Influencing People by Eric Olander and Lizzi Lee

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X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque

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YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

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• Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas

Young Africans increasingly see China as an important partner, but their support comes with clear expectations about what that relationship should deliver, according to findings from the recently published 2026 African Youth Survey.

China's infrastructure, investment, and visible economic presence have strengthened its standing, but young Africans increasingly expect that engagement to translate into high-value jobs, industrialization, skills, and greater benefits from the continent's resources.

Ivor Ichikowitz, chairman of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, joins Eric and Cobus to unpack the latest African Youth Survey and what it reveals about a more assertive generation that values China's engagement while insisting that the relationship evolve on Africa's terms.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• 🇨🇳 Why China resonates with African youth
• 🌍 Pragmatism over geopolitical loyalty
• 💼 Demand for better jobs and industrialization
• ⛏️ Keeping more value from Africa's resources
• 🗳️ Frustration with governance and political systems
• ✊🏾 A more confident generation asserting African agency

Show Notes:

• The Ichikowitz Family Foundation: 2026 African Youth Survey
• South China Morning Post: Practical' young Africans leaning towards China over US and away from ideology by Jevans Nyabiage
• Bloomberg: China Bolsters its Influence Over Africa's Youth, Survey Shows by Antony Sguazzin and Rene Vollgraaff

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X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque

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YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

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There's growing optimism across Africa, Latin America, and Asia that abundant reserves of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel can fuel a new era of economic development. Determined to avoid the "resource curse" that enriched foreign companies while leaving local populations behind, governments are increasingly moving to ban exports of raw ores and instead promote domestic processing and refining.

It's an appealing strategy, but far more difficult to implement than many realize.

Wei Shen and Anabel Marín, senior research fellows at the Institute of Development Studies in London, argue that processing alone won't transform resource-rich economies. In a new paper, they explain why lasting prosperity depends on building the knowledge, institutions, and technological capabilities needed to move up the value chain. They join Eric to discuss what it will really take for developing countries to turn critical mineral wealth into sustainable development.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• Why critical minerals alone won't create prosperity
• Can resource nationalism break the resource curse?
• Why processing isn't enough to move up the value chain
• The role of knowledge and state capacity in development
• What China got right in building its mineral industry
• How developing countries can capture more value from critical minerals

Show Notes:

• WATCH: Critical minerals and development: Breaking the structural impasse with Wei Shen and Anabel Marín
• Institute of Development Studies: China's role in critical mineral mining and its impacts by Wei Shen
• Institute of Development Studies: Living in a material world: What critical minerals mean for development by Wei Shen and Anabel Marín

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X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud | @stadenesque

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YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

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• French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
• Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas