The China in Africa Podcast

Yan Liang, economics professor and China specialist, offers a concise take on shifting China-Africa finance. She outlines changing Chinese lending patterns, rising debt repayments, and the spread of RMB financing. The conversation highlights persistent trade imbalances, limits to African industrialization, and what to watch ahead of major diplomatic meetings.

Maureen Farrell, a US security and Africa policy expert at the Atlantic Council and Valor, discusses U.S. re-engagement in Africa. She explores critical minerals and supply-chain gaps, strategic opportunities in Guinea, Libya’s geopolitics and energy stakes, and Mozambique’s LNG and security risks. Short-term financing, logistics, and balancing competition with cooperation are central themes.

Santino Regilme, Leiden University lecturer in international relations and human rights; Obert Hodzi, University of Liverpool politics lecturer and China–Africa scholar. They compare U.S. moves from aid toward trade and data-linked deals with China’s infrastructure and concessional finance approach. They discuss African pushback, how visibility shapes diplomacy, and whether strategies are converging or remain distinct.

Nicholas Niarchos, investigative journalist and author of The Elements of Power, maps how critical minerals shaped global power. He traces China's decades-long buildout in Congo, the rise of informal Chinese traders, the Sicomines deal, artisanal mining and child labor, and why Western efforts to secure battery metals may be too late.

David McNair, Executive Director for Global Policy at ONE.org and lead author of the 'Great Reversal' report, explains shifting finance in Africa. He discusses how China now collects past loans, private bondholders hold the largest—and costliest—share of external debt, and why multilateral banks and the G20 Common Framework matter. Short, data-driven take on who actually shapes Africa’s debt landscape.

Lu Miao, assistant professor at Lingnan University and author of The Transsion Approach, explains how Transsion built a mobile empire in Africa. She discusses rural-first distribution, design tweaks like camera optimization for darker skin and dual SIMs, the role of Carlcare repair centers, offline marketing and local translators, and rising competition and legal challenges.

Andy Brown, Semafor managing editor focused on China business and geoeconomics, and Yinka Adegoke, Semafor Africa editor covering African politics and geopolitics. They unpack the rising U.S.-China rivalry in Africa. They discuss China's lead in Congo's cobalt and refining, U.S. critical-minerals plans, trade imbalances, and why processing capacity and governance shape who wins the race for Africa's resources.

Paa Kwesi Wolseley Prah, a security scholar on China–Africa policing and regional politics, and Paul Nantulya, a researcher on PLA activity and military ties, unpack growing Chinese military engagement across Africa. They discuss PLA exercises, arms sales, officer training, policing cooperation, the Global Security Initiative, Djibouti’s influence, Atlantic basing claims, the Sahel, and critical minerals.

Géraud Neema, Africa editor and Central African mining analyst who testifies on DRC issues, unpacks Washington’s bid for a China-free critical minerals bloc. He discusses price-floor proposals, US stockpiling plans, and how refining dominance keeps China in control. He also covers shifting deals in the DRC and the geopolitical risks of hardened mineral blocs.

The collapse of the post-war international system now underway will have a disproportionate impact on African countries that rely heavily on multilateral bodies like the UN. Beyond a pull-back of aid and humanitarian assistance, African countries must also contend with an increasingly hostile United States. Dozens of African countries have been targeted by the Trump administration for visa restrictions, trade sanctions, and regularly denigrated by the president himself. At the same time, U.S. diplomats across the continent were ordered by the State Department in January to remind African governments to express more gratitude to the U.S. for its "generosity." Judd Devermont, the former top Africa strategist at the White House during the Biden administration and now an operating partner at Kupanda Capital in Washington, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss the future of U.S.-Africa relations and China's expanding presence on the continent. 📌 Topics covered in this episode: China's sharp drop in Africa lending and what it signals Why big Chinese infrastructure projects are fading U.S. Africa relations after USAID and PEPFAR cuts The leaked State Department email and Africa as a "peripheral" priority America's collapsing credibility in Africa and beyond Why China is seen as an opportunity, not an ally Critical minerals and the limits of extractive diplomacy What the shifting U.S.-China-Africa balance means next Show Notes: Post Strategy: On China by Judd Devermont The Guardian: Head of US Africa bureau urges staff to highlight US 'generosity' despite aid cuts by Aisha Down China Power Project: US-China-Africa Relations: A View from Africa by Lina Benabdallah Join the Discussion: X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @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