The China in Africa Podcast

Kenya's landmark debt restructuring deal with China, announced last year, converted $3 billion in outstanding China Exim Bank loans from U.S. dollars to Chinese yuan. The currency switch could save the East African country more than $200 million in debt servicing costs.
Not surprisingly, other countries in Asia and Africa are now exploring similar arrangements to reduce their debt burdens. But a new report from the development finance research lab AidData argues that Kenya's savings came mostly from the restructuring terms — not from the yuan conversion itself.
AidData's Oshin Pandey and Sailor Miao join Eric and Cobus to explain how the deal worked, why it matters, and why there is more to this arrangement than most headlines suggest.
📌 Topics Covered in This Episode
Kenya's landmark China debt deal
Debt restructuring vs. yuan conversion
Why AidData challenges the narrative
Ethiopia's restructuring prospects
China's evolving lending strategy
The future of sovereign debt relief
Show Notes:
AidData: Kenya's USD-to-RMB Debt Conversion Was Really a Restructuring by Sailor Miao and Oshin Pandey
The China-Global South Project: Kenya's Chinese Debt Swap Comes With a Hidden Currency Risk
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud | @stadenesque
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth
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The Chinese government this week unveiled a new vision for the emerging post-American-led international order. In a new white paper, Beijing argued that the existing global system does not need to be replaced or rebuilt. Instead, it called for the United Nations to remain at the center of global governance while giving developing countries a greater voice in international decision-making.
Eric and Cobus discuss China's push for global governance reform and why many African countries are backing Beijing's position. Plus, Kenya becomes the latest front in the contest between China and Taiwan after Nairobi acquiesced to Beijing's pressure and blocked Taiwanese delegates from attending an oceans forum in Mombasa.
📌 Topics Covered in This Episode
China's new vision for global governance
Why African countries support Beijing's proposal
The UN's role in a changing world order
China's growing influence in the Global South
Kenya blocks Taiwanese delegates from oceans forum
The escalating China–Taiwan contest in Africa
Show Notes:
Full text: More Just and Equitable Global Governance: China's Principles, Proposals and Actions
South China Morning Post: The white paper making China's case for new rules for the world's new frontiers by Orange Wang
Al Jazeera: Taiwan accuses Kenya of deporting conference delegates on China's behalf
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud | @stadenesque
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

Taiwan's delegates to the Our Ocean Conference scheduled to take place in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa next week will not be permitted to participate, according to a well-placed source. If this is the case, it would mark the third major setback for Taiwan in Africa over the past several weeks.
Last month, the digital rights conference Rightscon was canceled in Lusaka, in part due to pressure from the Chinese embassy to block the participation of a small group of delegates from Taiwan. Around the same time, three African Indian Ocean island states refused to grant Taiwan President Lai Ching-te permission to overfly for a scheduled trip to Eswatini.
Plus, Eric, Cobus & Géraud discuss how a labor dispute at a massive Chinese-run cobalt mine in the DRC came to an end and the latest in the U.S.-China critical minerals competition in Africa.
📌 Topics Covered in This Episode
Taiwan's shrinking diplomatic space in Africa
Kenya, China, and the Taiwan question
Congo's critical minerals and coltan smuggling
Labor unrest at a major Chinese-owned mine
Resource nationalism vs. mining investment
The global race for critical mineral supply chains
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud | @stadenesque
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

Dan Kobayashi spent 16 years working as a U.S. diplomat focused on African issues, both at posts in Lesotho, Zambia, and Malawi, among others, and at the State Department's intelligence bureau in Washington, D.C. He had a close-up view of how U.S.-Africa policy has evolved over the years, particularly as it relates to China's expanding presence on the continent.
Today, Dan is out of government and works as a geopolitical risk consultant in Geneva, where he also writes for his new Expatriach Substack. He joins Eric, Cobus, and Géraud to share an insider's perspective on the current state of U.S. policy towards Africa and why the notion that Washington is competing with Beijing for influence in the region is outdated.
📌 Topics Covered in this Episode
Inside Washington's Africa policymaking
Trump's changing approach to Africa
The China "debt trap" debate
U.S.-China competition in Africa
Aid cuts, visas, and diplomacy
What's next for U.S.-Africa relations?
Show Notes:
Sign up to The Expatriach Substack
Expatriarch: USAID Is Unlikely to Be Replaced With Something Better Any Time Soon, So Stop Pretending by Dan Kobayashi
Expatriarch: My Resignation from the State Department by Dan Kobayashi
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @christiangeraud | @stadenesque
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

In this week's China in Africa podcast episode, which also serves as a Round Table episode, C. Geraud Neema and Cobus van Staden break down why Europe is increasingly concerned about Chinese investment in Morocco's electric vehicle industry supply chain, and whether Brussels is ignoring Morocco's own industrial strategy.
The conversation then turns to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda, comparing the U.S. quarantine response with China's medical aid approach. The controversy in Kenya over a proposed U.S. Ebola facility shows how African public opinion toward Washington may be shifting in the post-USAID era.
Finally, new Afrobarometer data from Seychelles reveals howshows that India and China are gaining positive influence in the Indian Ocean, while the U.S. continues to fall behind.
Join the Discussion:
X: @ChinaGSProject | @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