In the weeks since Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the new Global Governance Initiative (GGI) during a speech at the SCO summit in Tianjin, Beijing’s propaganda apparatus has been working overtime to build support for the new plan, particularly in Africa, Latin America, and other developing regions.

The GGI is the latest in a series of Chinese global initiatives that also focus on development, human rights, and security, which it’s using to stake a larger claim for international leadership at a time when the U.S.-led system is collapsing.

Brian Wong, an assistant professor at Hong Kong University and a leading scholar on Chinese global governance, joins Eric to discuss what Beijing is hoping to accomplish with the GGI and its other governance initiatives.

SHOW NOTES:

• Routledge: Moral Debt: Defending a New Account of Reparative Justice by Brian Wong

• Hong Kong University Press: Towards a Future for BRICS+ edited by Heiwai Tang and Brian Wong

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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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China-Africa trade in the first eight months of the year increased by 15% to more than $220 billion, on track to break another annual record. A significant portion of that growth, however, stemmed from a surge in Chinese exports to African countries, exacerbating an already substantial $60 billion African trade deficit with China.

South Africa, by far, is China's most important trade partner on the continent, and it is attempting to close that gap by increasing its exports of agricultural products to China. The problem, however, is that it will take a lot more than selling fruits and vegetables to narrow the country's gaping trade deficit. In the meantime, local producers are facing growing pricing pressure from the surge of low-cost Chinese imports.

Eric & Cobus discuss the difficult position that many African countries are facing in this new, more competitive trade landscape.

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Africa was especially hard hit by Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, which ended years of duty-free access to the U.S. and triggered a rush to find new markets. China's announcement that it will remove all tariffs on African imports undoubtedly provides some relief, but it shouldn't be the only answer, say experts.

India, Southeast Asia, and Japan all offer tremendous opportunities for African exporters, if they know how to break into these markets.

Géraud traveled from Mauritius to Singapore to join a conversation at the Centre for African Studies at Nanyang Technological University, where he was joined by the center's director Amit Jain and Veda Vaidyanathan, a fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress in New Delhi, for a lively conversation on the future of Africa-Asia relations beyond China.

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China is steadily expanding its security presence in Africa through deeper military ties, weapons sales, and multinational deployments as UN Peacekeepers. In fact, China is now the largest arms supplier to Sub-Saharan Africa, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

There are also mounting concerns over the protection of Chinese personnel on the continent who have been regular targets of kidnapping and ransom by bandits in the DRC, Nigeria, and South Africa, among other countries.

Lungani Hlongwa, editor of the China-Africa Security Radar on Substack, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss why African militaries are increasingly turning to China and away from traditional partners in the U.S. and Europe.

SHOW NOTES:

• Subscribe to The China-Africa Security Radar: https://cafradar.substack.com/
• Politico: Pentagon plan prioritizes homeland over China threat by Paul McLeary and Daniel Lippman
• The China-Global South Project: Q&A: China’s ‘Feeling the Stones’ Approach to African Security Takes Shape

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The Kenyan government is under mounting pressure from the United States over its close ties with China. Influential lawmakers in Washington are furious over comments made by President William Ruto during a visit to Beijing earlier this year, where he said Kenya and China will be the "architects of a new world order."

The remark was particularly upsetting for some in Washington, given Kenya's role as a Major Non-NATO Ally.

Aggrey Mutambo, Africa editor at the Nation newspaper, joins Eric & Cobus from Nairobi to discuss how the Kenyan government is responding and what it's doing to maintain stable ties with both major powers.

SHOW NOTES:

• Aggrey Mutambo's article index at the Nation newspaper.

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China’s presence in Africa is often debated through different lenses. Two prominent angles to examine this relationship are through finance and security. Under finance, Beijing has become the continent’s biggest lender, funding roads, ports, and railways.

In security discussions, China’s engagement with Africa is increasing in trade and training.

China is advancing the Global Security Initiative (GSI), a framework that emphasizes sovereignty, non-interference, and development as the foundation for peace, a sharp contrast to Western, military-led approaches. But how is this vision received in Africa, and what does it mean for the continent’s security future?

In this episode, Geraud is joined by Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Strategic Studies Center in Washington, D.C, to explore these questions with a focus on African agency: how leaders negotiate loans, manage partnerships, and interpret China’s security proposals.

The answers, as Paul explains, reveal a more complex picture than dependency or partnership alone.

SHOW NOTES:

• Africa Center for Strategic Studies: Africa as a Testing Ground for China’s Global Security Initiative by Paul Nantulya

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