The China-Africa relationship, a decade after its blossoming

Sinica Podcast

Kaiser Kuo

Culture, China News, Hangzhou, Chinese, International Relations, Chongqing, Beijing, Sichuan, Currentaffairs, China, Politics, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, China Economy, News, China Politics, Business, Film, Shenzhen

4.8 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2017

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lina Benabdallah is an assistant professor of political science at Wake Forest University in North Carolina who recently completed a Ph.D. focusing on South-South cooperation. Much of her research was on the ties between China and countries in Africa. She sat down with Kaiser and Jeremy for a live podcast at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to discuss the state of China-Africa relations and how they have evolved over the past several years. At the 2006 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, international media and many in academia became fixated on a striking new phenomenon: an unprecedented uptick in ties in economics, migration, and diplomacy between China and many African countries. Since then, discussion of the Africa-China relationship has been generally locked in a dichotomy between those who believe China is “colonizing” Africa in some significant way, and those who believe pure intentions and great benefits are directed to and from both sides. It’s much more complicated than that, so Jeremy and Kaiser asked Lina to talk about issues such as the perception of Chinese investment projects on the African continent, China’s involvement in security in Africa, model farms projects, media cooperation, racism, and more. Recommendations: Jeremy: The 99% Invisible podcast, which focuses on a range of stories related to design, specifically its recent episode on Ponte City, a high-rise apartment building in Jeremy’s hometown of Johannesburg. At the time the tower was built, South Africa was a highly segregated society, and the building became one of the first places in Johannesburg where different races could rub shoulders. Lina: Guangzhou Dream Factory, a documentary made by Christiane Badgley and Erica Marcus. It documents the lives of African entrepreneurs in Guangzhou, China, in a highly realistic way — sharing stories of opportunity, success, and challenges, including racism. Kaiser: Read Lina’s review of Guangzhou Dream Factory, published on the blog Africa Is a Country. Also check out the novels of Adam Brooks, a former BBC correspondent in China who quit his job and started writing spy fiction based in China. Kaiser recommends his book Night Heron. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to this special live edition of the Cynica podcast coming today from the Pyle Center at the University of Wisconsin in lovely Madison.
0:16.9	I am Kaiser Guo and I am joined here, of course, by Jeremy Goldcorn, editor-in-chief of
0:21.1	SUPChina.com.
0:22.1	Greet the people here and at home, Jeremy.
0:24.0	Hello, people.
0:26.2	That's it?
0:26.8	That's it.
0:27.5	That's what you're getting today.
0:28.4	You get a more fulsome greeting normally.
0:30.7	Anyway, we would like to thank the African Studies Program, the Center for East Asian Studies,
0:34.7	and the Institute for Regional and International Studies here at Wisconsin for bringing us out here to one of my very favorite towns.
0:40.3	The real reason that I insisted that we do this is because last summer I was out at an adorable little cottage on the Wisconsin River, not far from here, with my college roommate.
0:50.3	And he introduced me to Neil.
0:52.3	And at the time, now, you don't see it now, but I was, my jaw hit the floor.
0:57.5	I couldn't believe how much Neil looked like my friend Jeremy, who's now, of course, hidden
1:02.1	behind this ridiculous growth on his face.
1:05.5	And Neil has since cut his hair, which was kind of a full jufro before.
1:09.9	And the two of them, both being South Africans, you know, of that particular ethnic
1:15.6	extraction, they looked so much alive.
1:18.1	And if you get a chance, take a close look.
1:20.7	You will still see it.
1:21.6	I think you were drunk, guys, because we don't look anything alike.
	...

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