China’s influence in African media narratives and digital space

<div>Since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1947, Africa has been crucial to China’s foreign policy. First, China supported several African liberation movements during the Cold War. Second, in November 2003, the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was created to improve cooperation between China and African states and third, Xi Jinping announced <a href="https://www.bruegel.org/podcast/belt-and-road-initiative-20-all-about-security">China's Belt and Road Initiative</a> (BRI) in 2013, which aimed to reinvigorate the old silk trading route along the East African coast. Furthermore, a relatively unknown fact is that China has made significant investments in Africa's digital space.<br> <br> In this episode of The Sound of Economics, <a href="https://www.bruegel.org/people/giuseppe-porcaro">Giuseppe Porcaro</a> is joined by <a href="https://www.bruegel.org/people/alicia-garcia-herrero">Alicia García-Herrero</a> and <a href="https://www.bruegel.org/people/iginio-gagliardone">Iginio Gagliardone</a> to talk about China’s image and digital influence in Africa. They discuss specific examples of successful and unsuccessful media narratives built by China and assess the role that Europe plays in relation to China and Africa's digital influence.<br> <br> </div> <br> <div><strong>Relevant publication:</strong></div> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.bruegel.org/newsletter/belt-and-road-initiative-transformation-makes-it-more-not-less-useful-tool-china">The Belt and Road Initiative transformation makes it a more – not less- useful tool for China</a></li> <li><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/anti.12623">Imperial Remains and Imperial Invitations: Centering Race within the Contemporary Large-Scale Infrastructures of East Africa</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421517308753">Comparing North-South technology transfer and South-South technology transfer: The technology transfer impact of Ethiopian Wind Farms</a></li> </ul> <div>This episode is part of the