S2 Ep 13: China Did What Now? Myths and Facts About The China-Africa Relations

Afropolitan Central

From alarming headlines about land grabs to debt traps all amidst bold claims of an ongoing bid to neo-colonise Africa, we have all been witness to China’s increasing presence and investment in various African countries. But what are the facts vs overly blown out myths? Should we be more alarmed than we already are? To help us navigate this subject, we are joined by Bénédicte, a China-Africa scholar, whose in-depth knowledge on China’s political, economic and cultural history provides the much needed context to examine this burgeoning relationship. We touch on these and more in our conversation: How has China’s history shaped its current “business only strategy” with the African continent? Is the devil we know (the West) better than the new, potential devil we’re just getting to know (China)? How and why do African countries continuously strike bad deals even in areas like tourism where we have a bargaining chip? Debt traps vs poorly researched deals, which is which? Are we selectively outraged, after all Indians, Lebanese and others have been getting up to shady activities on the continent for the longest This time around, how can we play the game to win? As you’ll hear from this episode, this is a topic we were quite excited to finally get into with Bénédicte so definitely let us know your thoughts! We’re Afropolitan Central on Instagram and AfropolitanC on Twitter. More about the ever impressive Bénédicte: Bénédicte is a China-Africa scholar, holding a masters in international development & African studies from Sciences Po Paris and a masters of law from Peking University, where she wrote her thesis on the political economy of Chinese tourism to Africa. Bénédicte is also a Comparative East Asian Studies scholar from Keio University, Japan - Hong Kong University and Yonsei University in South Korea She has experience consulting with Chinese and African organizations in the field of renewable energy and sustainable development. During her spare time, Bénédicte often shares her thoughts on her blog benedicteking.wordpress.com or contributes to blacklivitychina.com, a platform dedicated to the Black Experience in China. You can follow her on Twitter and instagram @benedicteking