China Dominates Investment Proposals in Angola

 Business Insider Africa published on 10 March 2026 an article titled "Africa's Second-largest Oil Producer Says China Dominated $21.88 Investment Proposals Over Five Years" by Solomon Ekanem.

Angola has received 596 investment proposals worth an estimated $21.8 billion over the past five years. with Chinese investors accounting for 80 percent of the total.  

Illegal Chinese Fishing off Gambia

 Voxeurop posted on 10 November 2025 an article titled "The Gambia's Stolen Catch: How Chinese Trawlers Feed Europe's Seafood Market" by Davide Mancini.

The Gambia has a tiny exclusive economic zone, but it is a hotspot for illegal fishing because of the nutrient-rich waters.  Chinese-controlled trawlers are the principal offenders.  

US-European Lobito Corridor Project Not Aimed at China

 The South China Morning Post published on 23 August 2025 an article titled "'No Geopolitics Involved': Angola Rail Project Not Aimed at Countering China, CEO Says" by Jevans Nyabiage.

The newly appointed chief executive of the Lobito Atlantic Railway that connects the mineral regions of Zambia, the DRC, and Angola says the company has "zero geopolitical considerations."  The railway is a joint venture project backed by European companies.  The United States has pledged $4 billion to the project.  While often portrayed as the US response to China in the region, Chinese companies are expected to use the railway.

Chinese Company Wins Contract for Section of Tanzania's Railway

 Nanyang Technological University in Singapore published on 21 February 2023 an article titled "China Lands Railway Contract to Link Tanzania to Mineral-rich DRC."

China Civil Construction Corporation and China Railway Corporation won the contract to build the 506 kilometer section of Tanzania's standard gauge railway from centrally-located Tabora to Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. Chinese companies also are building the link from Isaka to Mwanza on the shore of Lake Victoria.  Earlier sections of the railway were built by a Turkish and Portuguese company.  Financing has been provided by a variety of sources.  

Western Companies Score Rare Victory over China in Major Angolan Infrastructure Tender

 The International Railway Journal published on 1 August 2022 an article titled "Is the African Infrastructure Investment Landscape Changing?" by Kevin Smith.  

Portuguese and Belgian companies recently won a concession for a major infrastructure project in Angola.  This was an important defeat for competing Chinese companies.  As Western governments provide more financial support for African infrastructure projects, the continent may be witnessing a shift toward greater competition in this sector, which can only benefit Africa.

What is Huawei's 5G Security Threat?

The German Marshall Fund's Asia program ran a half hour podcast titled "Huawei or the Highway" with Janka Oertel and Jonas Parello Plesner.

This informative and lucid discussion addressed the security risk of China's Huawei to 5G networks. It emphasized that the problem is much broader than Huawei. The experts acknowledged that it is not clear how serious a threat Huawei poses to internet security. In addition, no one knows what the additional cost will be if countries ban Huawei equipment, which has not yet been officially banned in the United States. The major European 5G competitors to Huawei are Ericcson and Nokia.

There was no mention of Africa in the discussion, but growing numbers of African countries are turning to Huawei and other Chinese companies for their telecommunication networks.

Ethiopia's Foreign Relations

Lit Verlag in Germany published in 2015 a book edited by Lukian Prijac titled "Les relations entre l'Ethiopie et les nations etrangeres" or "Foreign Relations with Ethiopia."  The chapters, which are written by a variety of authors, are in French or English.  I wrote the chapters on the United States and China, both in English.

Other relations covered include Armenia, Austria, Israel, Japan, Vatican, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Ottoman Empire, Hungary, and Russia.