Former Shanghai-based foreign correspondent Howard French recently returned to Shanghai for the first time after corona and takes stock of its current state, by talking to Chinese and foreign residents in the city. In Foreign Policy he reports about these findings. French: “All I can say with certainty is that we are all in for a turbulent, costly, and possibly dangerous ride.”Read More →
US scholar and former foreign correspondent Howard French dives into the US debate on whether sanctioning and divesting from China are helpful. French does not think so and compares the position of China with North Korea – where sanctions did not work – and South Africa, where they did, at a debate at Intercollegiate Studies Institute.Read More →
Africa is high on China’s diplomatic agenda, says Howard French, author of Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War. China is winning in Africa for that reason, While the US is losing, he tells at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.Read More →
Former New York Times correspondent Howard French, author of China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, discusses at the International Peace Institute how now two million Chinese immigrants and 2,500 Chinese companies build up an over US$200 billion trade between China and Africa.Read More →
The G7 is trying to offer an alternative to China’s global expansion by the Belt&Road Initiative (BRI) but has a hard time finding the right approach. Former China and Africa correspondent Howard French discusses the dilemma’s at a podcast by the Brooking Institute.Read More →
Giant demographic changes in Africa have defined most of China’s strategic vision, says Howard French, author of China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, at a discussion at the National Bureau of Asian Research on the report by Nadège Rolland“A New Great Game? Situating Africa in China’s Strategic Thinking.”Read More →
The coronavirus or Covid-19 has kept the world in its grip since the beginning of 2020, first as a China problem, but then fast expanding to the rest of the world.
At the China Speakers Bureau, we organize China experts for a global audience, and our speakers have started to speak out on the impacts of that crisis, countries dealt with the crisis, and how China will deal with the major economic fallout of this global disruption.
Are you interested in discussing more options of speakers to deal with the corona crisis? Do get in touch.Read More →
Countries in Europe, Africa and other parts of the world have turned to China to seek for help in their struggle against the coronavirus, as the European Union and the US are failing to offer assistance. But China expert Howard French wonders at the Intercept whether China can face up to this new challenge.Read More →
Many stories about China and the Chinese in Africa are simply myths, says journalist and author Howard French, of China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa. He discusses how Chinese entrepreneurs ended up in Africa. “There was no big masterplan by the Chinese state to do so,” he says at The Columbia Global Centers in Nairobi.Read More →
China can send in heavy police or army to put down the devastating protests in Hong Kong. But that would devastate its “One Country, Two Systems” approach, and nobody – including Taiwan – would trust China again, writes veteran journalist Howard French in The Guardian.Read More →
One of the major global initiatives by China was the massive Belt and Road Initiative, reviving the old silk roads. In May 2017 a major international conference showed what our experts were already expecting: now all roads lead to China. Even countries who suffered from difficult relations with China, including both Koreas, appeared in Beijing.Larger than the former Marshall Plan after the Second World War, OBOR is going to redefine global trade.Read More →
Under president Xi Jinping, politics has become more dynamic than under his predecessor Hu Jintao. Anti-corruption, political reforms and increased infighting between different factions mark the news on an almost daily basis. And while everybody has an opinion, at the China Speakers Bureau we are happy to have a range of expert opinions on China´s political development.Read More →