Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week will likely be remembered as one of the most significant orations of the early 21st century. Carney channeled the fear and frustration of many global leaders when he defiantly declared that the U.S.-led international order is over.

The "rupture" that Carney referenced in his address has profound consequences for China as it moves to reshape a part of this new international order to better align with its interests.

Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior research scholar at Columbia University, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss why this is such a pivotal time for China as it moves to become a peer power of the United States, at least economically, without triggering the so-called "Thuycides Trap" that dictates this kind of rivalry often leads to war.

Show Notes:

• Foreign Affairs: China's Long Economic War — How Beijing Builds Leverage for Indefinite Competition by Zongyuan Zoe Liu

📌 Topics covered in this episode:

• Mark Carney's Davos speech and the declaration of a global rupture
• The collapse of the rules-based international order
• What a post-American world looks like for middle powers
• Economic coercion and the weaponization of supply chains
• Where China fits in the new global order
• China's long economic war and leverage strategy
• The Global South's trust gap with China
• Why the debt trap narrative persists despite evidence
• China as an opportunity rather than ally in emerging markets
• The rapid erosion of U.S. global credibility

Join the Discussion:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque

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China was among the first and most vocal opponents of the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro. Curiously, though, when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to launch military strikes against Iran as Tehran dealt with a massive popular uprising, China was largely silent.

Both Venezuela and Iran have high-level strategic partnerships with China, yet the Chinese leadership's responses to the crises in each country are radically different.

William (Bill) Figueroa, a leading China-Iran scholar and an assistant professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, joins Eric to discuss his latest CGSP column, which explains Beijing's low-key response and why the strategy is often misunderstood by many U.S. and European stakeholders.

📌 Topics covered in this episode:

• Why Iran's latest protests are more serious than past unrest
• How the crackdown escalated and what makes it unprecedented
• U.S. regime-change talk and the "boxing in China" narrative
• China's real exposure to Iranian and Venezuelan oil
• Debunking the myth of a deep, all-weather China–Iran alliance
• Why Beijing stayed quiet on Iran but reacted strongly on Venezuela
• Hard power limits and why China won't intervene militarily
• The quiet influence China already exerts behind the scenes

Join the Discussion:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander |

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In this special bonus episode, Eric speaks with Kaiser Kuo, host of the popular Sinica Podcast, about China's response to the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.

Many U.S. and European analysts have framed Maduro's downfall as a "setback" or even an "embarrassment" for Beijing, but while that may be true, Eric argues that it's also premature to make such declarations less than a week after Maduro's downfall. After all, U.S.-led military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya all started well but ended up being very costly failures for Washington.

📌 Topics covered include:

• China's reaction to Maduro's detention
• Why "China setback" claims may be premature
• Beijing's messaging vs. Chinese social media
• Why Venezuela ≠ Taiwan
• China's economic exposure in Venezuela
• The rise and fall of oil-backed loans
• What "all-weather partnership" really means
• Panama Canal risks for China
• Limits of U.S. hemispheric leverage
• China's Latin America knowledge gap
• Beijing's coup-response playbook
• Military lessons—and misreadings
• Instability as a threat to China's trade model
• What signals to watch next

Join the Discussion:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander

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Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social

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In this special year-end edition of The China-Global South Podcast, Eric, Cobus, and Géraud look back on the top stories of 2025 and look ahead to the key trend to watch in 2026.

📌 Topics covered include:

• Simandou goes online (Guinea) and the iron ore geopolitics shift
• Zambia's Kafue River spill and the China narrative battle
• China's manufacturing push, overcapacity, and export pressures
• Soybeans and South America's growing leverage in U.S.–China trade
• China–India détente and what it changes (and doesn't)
• G20 turbulence around South Africa and global governance fractures
• 2026 outlook: Southeast Asia rivalry, Zimbabwe lithium value-add, Senegal hidden debt

Show Notes:

• The Financial Times: The American company seeking to counter China in Africa by David Pilling and Leslie Hook
• Foreign Policy: China's Appetite for Rosewood Is Causing Chaos in Africa by Joshua Eisenman and Caroline Costello
• Environmental Investigation Agency: New Report Finds That Home Depot Sold Illegally Sourced Tropical Wood for Years

Join the Discussion:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque | @christiangeraud

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Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth

The increasingly acrimonious U.S.-China relationship is the defining trend of this era, upending global politics, economics, and security, especially across the Global South. Countries that have worked hard from having to pick sides in this new competition, may longer have that luxury as this rivalry intensifies.

Jane Perlez, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and a former longtime China correspondent for The New York Times, has been covering this story since the 1980s. Now, together with acclaimed Harvard University China scholar Rana Mitter, she's launched season 3 of her award-winning podcast Face Off: The U.S. vs. China, where they explore the key trends reshaping ties between these two powers.

Jane joins Eric from Sydney to discuss the forces driving this rivalry: leadership personality, domestic pressure, technological competition, and the tightening link between geopolitics and economic strategy.

📌 Key topics explored:

• How China defines and uses foreign aid
• Aid vs development finance in China's system
• The role of Chinese development banks
• Myths around "free" Western and Chinese aid
• Aid as diplomatic influence
• China's engagement with regional blocs (AU, ASEAN)
• What China's aid strategy means for the West

Show Notes:

Listen to season 2 of Face Off: The U.S. vs. China on Spotify

Join the Discussion:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social

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Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth

Soon after USAID was closed in February, speculation circulated that China would move quickly to fill the void left by the United States. That did not happen.

While the Chinese did step in to provide modest additional funding for a handful of programs, like demining initiatives in Cambodia and support for the Africa CDC in Addis Ababa, overall, there's been no significant change in China's foreign aid programs.

That did not surprise Alicia Chen, a PhD candidate at Stanford University, who noted in a recent Foreign Affairs article that Beijing is very tactical with where and how it distributes overseas development assistance. Alicia joins Eric to discuss Beijing's foreign aid strategy and how it differs from other major donors.

📌 Key topics in this episode:

• How China defines foreign aid
• Aid versus development finance in China
• Why China's aid budget is relatively small
• The role of Chinese development banks
• Myths about "free" Western and Chinese aid
• Aid as a tool of diplomatic influence
• China's focus on regional organizations
• African Union and ASEAN case studies
• Donkey hide trade and AU diplomacy
• What China's aid strategy means for the West

JOIN THE DISCUSSION:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander

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Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social

FOLLOW CGSP IN FRENCH & SPANISH:

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JOIN US ON PATREON!
Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth

In this episode of the China Global South Podcast, Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden unpack a major question facing middle powers everywhere: What happens when the global security architecture you relied on for decades no longer exists?

Fresh from meetings at Australian National University and the Australasian Aid Conference, Eric shares conversations with scholars, diplomats, and policymakers in Canberra who are wrestling with a new geopolitical reality. Topics include:

Eric and Cobus also break down China's push to promote its Global Security Initiative at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, the limitations of the UN system, and why both Western and Chinese security narratives fail to address Africa's real on-the-ground security challenges.

📌 Key topics in this episode:

• The U.S.–China rivalry and why middle powers feel trapped
• Australia's dilemma: China is the biggest customer AND biggest security concern
• Why the Pacific Islands have become a frontline of strategic contestation
• Joint patrols in the South China Sea and shifting regional alliances
• Whether the Five Eyes model still works in a world where U.S. power is unpredictable
• How Japan, South Korea, and Canada are rethinking security and trade
• Why "rules-based order" no longer resonates across the Global South
• China's Global Security Initiative (GSI) and what it actually means for Africa
• Why many countries fear mass migration more than great-power conflict
• Why middle powers still lack a clear, forward-looking vision

JOIN THE DISCUSSION:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social

FOLLOW CGSP IN FRENCH & SPANISH:

• French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
• Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas

JOIN US ON PATREON!
Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth