In January, the Indian government published a new critical minerals strategy that details how the country aims to bolster supply chains necessary for its green energy transition. While the report underscores the importance of developing domestic supplies of lithium and other transition resources, it also calls for closer international partnerships, particularly with mineral-rich African nations.

India has deep ties in Africa, particularly in eastern and southern countries on the continent, but it is a newcomer to the critical resources sector that is largely dominated by Chinese and European companies.

Veda Vaidyanathan, an accomplished China-Africa scholar and an associate fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress in New Delhi, joins Eric & Géraud to explain how India's approach to critical resource mining in Africa is going to look very different from what China is doing.

Show Notes:

• Centre for Social and Economic Progress: India, Africa and Critical Minerals: Towards a Green Energy Partnership by Veda Vaidyanathan
• Reuters: India exploring critical minerals in Zambia, Congo and Australia, official says by Neha Arora

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China and Vietnam have taken two distinctly different approaches in how they manage their territorial disputes with China. The Philippines is leaning into its alliance with the United States along with new security pacts with more than half a dozen other countries. Vietnam, in contrast, is going it alone.

Ironically, Vietnam is expanding its territorial presence in the disputed South China Sea through island reclamation, while the Philippines is merely trying to hold on to the territory it already claims. Yet, the face-off between Beijing and Manila is far more aggressive. 

Khang Vu, a visiting scholar at Boston College and a leading Vietnam analyst, said the key difference between the two is the Philippines' decision to bring an outside power (the U.S.) into the dispute. Khang joins Eric & Cobus to discuss what lessons the South China Sea confrontation offers other countries trying to manage equally contentious great power rivalries.

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From afar, the China-South Africa trade relationship looks amazing. Last year, the two countries sold more than $52 billion worth of goods to one another — mostly raw materials from South Africa and finished goods from China.

But when you look at the figures more closely, some real problems become evident. While trade volumes between the two countries have grown exponentially over the past 20 years, so has South Africa's trade deficit with China, which reached almost $10 billion last year.

Marvellous Ngundu, a research consultant at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, explored the problem in a recently published paper and joins Eric & Cobus to discuss what can be done to balance out this "active, yet highly unequal" trading relationship.

• Institute for Security Studies: South Africa’s trade deficit dilemma with China by Marvellous Ngundu
• Bloomberg: A New ‘China Shock’ Is Destroying Jobs Around the World by Katia Dmitrieva, Philip Heijmans, and Prima Wirayani

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Millions of Zambians along the Kafue River are coming to grips with the devastating environmental impact brought about by a massive acid spill from a Chinese-run copper mine. A tailings dam broke on February 18th, sending 50 million liters of toxic water into the Kafue River, killing fish, wildlife and endangering public health.

Sino-Metals, the Chinese mining company, apologized for the accident and said that it is “doing its best” to clean up the mess.

Eric, Cobus, and Geraud discuss the political implications of the spill and what’s at stake for the Chinese government if the company fails to take care of this environmental tragedy. Plus, the guys also break down a new $1.4 billion Chinese deal to refurbish the TAZARA railway and the prospects of a U.S. critical resource mining deal in the DRC.

• Associated Press: A river ‘died’ overnight in Zambia after an acidic waste spill at a Chinese-owned mine by Richard Kille and Jacob Zimba
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Can the DRC Leverage U.S.-China Competition Over Critical Minerals for Peace? by Christian-Géraud Neema
• Bloomberg: China to Invest $1.4 Billion to Upgrade Tanzana-Zambia Rail Line by Matthew Hill

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During his Senate confirmation, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced the so-called "liberal international order" that he said was obsolete and no longer working for the United States. Since he and his boss, President Donald Trump, took office eight weeks ago, they have thoroughly upended the post-WWII global order that the U.S. itself established and led for the past 75 years.

The changes in Washington are happening so fast that it's impossible to keep up. Every day, institutions many assumed were invincible have either been closed or censured. Now, the challenges facing policymakers around the world is how to adapt to this emerging international system that is no longer anchored in Washington, D.C.

Gyude Moore, an inaugural visiting fellow at Global Neighbours and Liberia's former minister of public works, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss what he thinks African countries should do to thrive in a new post-American international order.

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Southern Africa has become a focal point of geopolitical competition, with the U.S., China, and other global powers maneuvering for influence over key infrastructure projects and critical resources.

The Lobito Corridor Project, a railway and logistics initiative spanning Angola, Zambia, and the DRC, is at the center of this contest. Questions around financing, U.S. aid freezes, and China’s long-term economic strategy highlight the broader struggle for dominance in the region’s transportation and trade networks.

But where do African countries fit into this dynamic? Political analyst Marisa Lourenço joins Géraud and Cobus from Johannesburg to discuss the critical choices facing policymakers in the region that will shape Southern Africa's economic and security landscape. 

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In recent years, the relationship between Chinese mining companies and local communities in many African countries has been very contentious over allegations of environmental damage, a lack of transparency, and tensions with local civil society groups.

In Zimbabwe, a new initiative—the China-Africa Dialogue on Green Minerals for Responsible Investment (CADRI)—is taking a different approach. Rather than relying on confrontation, CADRI brings together civil society organizations, policymakers, and Chinese companies to push for greater accountability, transparency, and sustainable mining practices.

This week, CGSP Africa Editor Géraud Neema speaks with Obert Bore, business and human rights program lead at the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), to discuss why this initiative appears to be working and what other African countries can learn from Zimbabwe's experience.

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U.S. President Donald Trump's decision this week to pause military funding for Ukraine and to align his government with Russia further widens the cleavage between the United States and Europe — effectively breaking what has long been known as "the West."

At first glance, many of China's Western critics will see this as welcome news, but it also means that Beijing must navigate in a much more fragmented and turbulent geopolitical environment.

The Paris-based global affairs think tank Institut Montaigne recently published a detailed forecast of the challenges that lie ahead for China over the coming decade. The report's authors, François Godement and Pierre Pinhas, join Eric & Cobus to discuss four scenarios they mapped out that could shape China's trajectory in this new era.

SHOW NOTES:

• Read the Institut Montaigne Report: China 2035: The Chances of Success

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U.S. and European leaders often talk about the importance of building China-free supply chains for transition minerals and other critical resources. While, for a lot of people, that may resonate among their constituents at home, the reality is that it's not even remotely possible — at least for the foreseeable future.

China has spent the better part of two decades building an insurmountable lead in financing, extracting, and processing these resources. Using a combination of state-backed companies and foreign financial institutions, the Chinese are the pacesetters in this industry, with their rivals left far behind.

A first-of-its-kind report from the development research lab AidData at William & Mary College in the United States reveals the stunning breadth of China's global mining strategy that spans 19 countries around the world. Two of the report's authors, Brooke Escobar and Katherine Walsh, both from AidData's Chinese Development Finance Program, join Eric & Cobus to explain why China is now so far ahead of its competitors in this critical competition.

SHOW NOTES:

• AidData: Power Playbook: Beijing’s Bid to Secure Overseas Transition Minerals

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When the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer launched DeepSeek on January 20th, the global AI market for large language model (LLM) systems was turned upside down. Investors dumped nearly a trillion dollars of tech stocks in the U.S., panicked by the prospect that a cheaper, more nimbler alternative would undermine the massive investments that companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple were making in AI.

A month later, those stocks have all largely recovered. Now, as investors have had time to use DeepSeek and better understand what it can do, there's less concern that it'll displace U.S. tech giants. The focus now is on its impact on the rest of the world.

Asia Society Switzerland Fellow John Lee, a veteran Chinese technology analyst, joins Eric to explain why Chinese AI initiatives like DeepSeek along with new innovations in automotive tech are poised to take off in lower-income developing countries.

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The U.S.-China relationship is at a critical inflection point as Donald Trump tries to reset ties with his counterpart Xi Jinping. The U.S. President has repeatedly said he wants to negotiate a comprehensive trade agreement that would, in his view, lead to a dramatic de-escalation of tensions.

Unsurprisingly, China Hawks, many in his own government, are skeptical that Trump will get what he wants from Xi. Regardless, reverberations from the U.S.-China conflict are felt far beyond the borders of these two countries, particularly in Africa, Asia, and across the Global South.

Veteran journalist Jane Perlez joins Eric & Cobus to discuss the new season of her popular podcast, "Faceoff: The U.S. vs. China" and the key trends policymakers everywhere should focus on.

SHOW NOTES:

Listen to Faceoff: U.S. vs. China on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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