Is the China-Africa Love Affair Over?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2018
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The burgeoning relationship between China and Africa has been one of the great economic stories of the 21st century. Billions of dollars of investment and loans from China have created radical change in many African countries. But not everyone is happy, with some even claiming this is a new form of colonialism. As signs of discontent grow in countries like Zambia, and investment numbers start to slip down, we ask: is the China-Africa love affair over?
Contributors include:
Dr Lauren Johnston – Research Fellow, University of Melbourne Professor Lina Benabdallah – Assistant Professor of Politics & International Affairs, Wake Forest University Laura Miti – Executive Director, Alliance for Community Action Professor Stephen Chan – Professor of World Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London)
Presenter: Linda Yueh Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton
(A Chinese railway worker drills holes on the newly put railway tracks in Dondo, outside Luanda, Angola. Photo credit: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images )
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the inquiry on the BBC World Service with me, Linda you. |
| 0:05.3 | Each week, one question, four expert witnesses, and an answer. |
| 0:17.0 | Walking along a busy road, a lone protester is carrying a sign that says, China is carrying a sign that says China equals Hitler. |
| 0:27.0 | James Lukuku is angry about China's involvement in his country. |
| 0:32.0 | Because I want every Zambian to rise and stop the influence of China. |
| 0:37.0 | We don't want China to take up everything that belongs to this nation. |
| 0:41.0 | His one-man protest ended when he was led away by police, but it made headlines around the world. |
| 0:48.0 | It's because he's not alone in feeling alarm over China's role in Africa. |
| 0:55.0 | It's even being described by some as the new face of colonialism. In the past decade China has loaned Africa billions of dollars to build railways, roads and airports. But now it's crunch time as those |
| 1:16.8 | loans need to be repaid. Across Africa there's growing concern about the amount of debt owed to China. |
| 1:25.0 | A few weeks ago, Sierra Leone cancelled plans for a Chinese funded airport |
| 1:31.0 | and after years of rising investment this year for the first time the Chinese government |
| 1:37.8 | froze its funding for Africa. |
| 1:41.3 | So our question this week, is the China Africa love affair over? |
| 1:47.0 | Part 1, a win-win situation. |
| 1:55.0 | A colleague gave me a nickname which was Sierra Loren because I kept going on about China and Africa and Sierra Leone. |
| 2:03.0 | Lauren Johnston's prediction that the China Africa love affair was the next big thing |
| 2:09.0 | earned her this nickname when she started working at the World Economic Forum. She had been |
| 2:15.0 | based at Sierra Leone's Ministry of Finance in the early 2000s, one of the few |
| 2:20.4 | Chinese speakers in Africa. She says Chinese involvement in Africa has a long history |
| 2:27.3 | dating back to the Ming Dynasty when Chinese ships sailed in search of new lands. |
| 2:33.2 | These fleets did reach the coast of East Africa and so that's the kind of first |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.