China's new ambassador to Ghana, Tong Defa, spoke out forcefully this week to condemn the ongoing problem of illegal mining in the country and issued a fresh warning to his compatriots that if they are caught breaking the law, the embassy will not be there to bail them out.

Also, Kenyan President William Ruto traveled to Germany where he was once again pressed by the media to answer the ridiculous question of whether he prefers Western or Chinese investment.

Eric & Géraud also discuss a recent Congressional hearing in the United States about China's role in Africa and why the proceedings desperately needed a fact checker.

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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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For much of the past thirty years, since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been largely unrivaled in its power in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Today, that is no longer the case as the U.S. faces new challenges both from regional powers like Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as international competitors, including China and Russia.

This transition to multipolarity is transforming the region and served as the thesis of a special edition of the academic journal Middle East Policy that came out earlier this year.

Three of the journal's editors on this project, Andrea Ghiselli from Fudan University in Shanghai, University of Naples China scholar Enrico Fardella, and Durham University international relations professor Anoushiravan Ehteshami, join Eric to discuss how the different countries in the region are adapting to the Sino-U.S. rivalry.

SHOW NOTES: Download the Spring 2024 edition of Middle East Policy (you'll need institutional access or have to pay a small fee): https://bit.ly/3XvvLUm

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For decades, African governments have tried to lure Chinese manufacturing companies to set up factories in their countries with the promise of an abundant supply of low-cost labor. Other than a few high-profile companies, Chinese companies, for the most part, have balked — preferring instead to offshore production closer to home in Southeast Asia.

But now that may be starting to change. With the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement now up and running, Chinese firms see an opportunity to manufacture goods for local and continental markets.

Three scholars recently surveyed Chinese manufacturing trends in 34 countries between 2003 and 2014 and published their findings in a new Boston University Global Development Policy Center working paper. Keyi Tang, an assistant professor at the ESADE Business School in Barcelona and one of the report's authors, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss their findings and what it says about the future prospects for Chinese manufacturing on the continent.

SHOW NOTES:

Download the BU Global Development Policy Center Report: Chinese Economic Ties and Low-carbon Industrialization in Africa: https://tinyurl.com/26affcwq

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The three-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit wrapped up in Beijing on Friday. The big headline from this year's gathering was the announcement that China will provide $50.7 billion in financing to African countries over the next three years.

Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled the customary mega pledge as part of a ten-point action plan that will guide China's relationship with the continent through 2027.

In this special double episode of the show, Eric, Géraud, and Cobus discuss key events from this year's FOCAC summit and why it's best not to focus too much on that big financial package.

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U.S. officials have spoken at length about the urgent need to end their country's dependency on China for the critical resources needed to power next-generation mobility and technology.

Part of the solution, they say, is to compete directly with the Chinese for lithium, cobalt, and other critical mineral mining rights around the world. The problem is few U.S. mining companies today do that kind of work in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia where these resources are found.

But the U.S. is geologically endowed, prompting loud calls to mine these resources at home — which raises another problem.

In his new book "The War Below," Reuters correspondent Ernest Scheyder explains how powerful stakeholders have made it very difficult for U.S. mining companies to operate domestically. Ernest joins Eric & Géraud to explain why the politics of mining make it nearly impossible for the U.S. to compete with China for critical resources.

PURCHASE THE WAR BELOW ON AMAZON: https://tinyurl.com/24ng24tm

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This year's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit comes at a critical time for governments in both regions. While China is embroiled in an increasingly contentious great power duel with the United States, African governments are under mounting economic and social pressures.

These challenges are prompting Chinese and African scholars to wonder aloud whether it's time to introduce new reforms into the FOCAC process, particularly more transparency and accountability.

Last month, University of California at Irvince scholar Paa-Kwesi Heto and Paul Nantulya, a researcher at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C., convened an independent working group of some of the world's foremost Africa-China scholars to discuss this week's FOCAC summit.

Normally, these gatherings are conducted off the record, but this time, the participants agreed to allow CGSP to record the discussion and share some of the highlights for the podcast. In this special bonus edition, you'll hear insights from:

• Li Hangwei, Senior Researcher, German Institute of Development and Sustainability
• Pamela Carslake, Executive Director, Sin-Africa Centre of International Relations
• Sanusha Naidu, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Global Dialogue
• Cliff Mboya, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Johannesburg Centre for Africa-China Studies
• Frangton Chiyemura, Lecturer in International Development Education, The Open University

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