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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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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X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @agmutambo

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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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Who shapes Africa’s story? Zambia’s media offers a rare window into how local voices frame global powers like China, the U.S., Japan, and South Africa.

From debates on debt and development to questions of governance and influence, the coverage reveals both common threads and striking differences with other regions.

Natsuko Imai Kanayama, a researcher at the JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development in Tokyo joins Eric & Géraud to share insights from her comparative study, highlighting how Zambian media narratives can challenge global assumptions about power, partnerships, and agency.

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There's a Chinese proverb that says, “If you want to get rich, build a road first.” That philosophy has guided China's development strategy in Africa for much of the past 25 years, that's led to the construction of more than 100,000km of new roads across the continent.

We wanted to find out, though, if it's true: does a new road actually pave the way for prosperity, as they say it does? So, we asked Malawi-based journalist Raphael Mweninguwe to visit two highways, the M1 and M26, to speak with local residents and shopkeepers about whether their lives have improved since the Chinese built these highways.

Raphael joins Eric from the Malawian capital, Lilongwe, to discuss his report that was published on CGSP this week and explain why the question about whether the road helped improve their lives doesn't have a simple answer.

SHOW NOTES:

• The China-Global South Project: Chinese-Built Roads in Malawi Bring Hope but Not the Riches Many Expected by Raphael Mweninguwe

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Over the past week, sharply contrasting images of Chinese engagement in Africa surfaced online. Anger erupted on social media over the release of yet another violent video that shows Congolese soldiers brutally beating local miners purportedly at the behest of Chinese nationals watching in the background.

A controversial hour-long documentary by one of Zambia's leading newspapers also sparked a lot of discussion over the labor and environmental records of Chinese mining companies in the country. The Chinese embassy in Lusaka denounced the program as "biased" and containing "hidden motives."

Meanwhile, in China, a 15-second teaser of a new blockbuster movie also dropped this week that looks like it's set in a fictitious North African country, while popular Chinese travel vlogger Zhang Jun released a visually stunning 2.5-hour-long documentary on the Congolese fashion scene known as "La Sape."

Eric, Géraud & Cobus discuss these various clips and shows that emerged this week and what they reveal about the evolution of China-Africa media narratives.

SHOW NOTES:

• Justicia ABSL: Violent beating of Congolese miners by FARDC soldiers
• News Diggers: China: The Good, the Bad and the Dangerous
• Movie Trailer: 用武之地/The Point of No Return
• The Fashion Bible: Congo’s “La Sape” Fashion Culture Through the Unlikely Lens of a Chinese Vlogger

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

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Chinese construction giant Sinohydro signed a $100 million deal with Angola to build out the country's agricultural infrastructure in a bid to boost grain production. While 60% of the output from this venture will be shipped to China, the rest will be sold domestically in a move aimed at reducing the West African country's food import bill.

The Sinohydro news followed an even larger agriculture announcement between the two countries when Chinese conglomerate Citic signed a $250 million contract to develop large-scale soybean and corn farms in Angola.

Géraud and Cobus discuss why the timing of these deals is so interesting as China moves quickly to reduce its reliance on wheat, soy, and corn imports from the U.S.

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X: @ChinaGSProject | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud

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