In response to Bolivia’s recent agreement with Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom and China's Citic Guoan Group to develop its largely untapped resources of lithium – a resource of increasing importance due to its use in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles – US Senator Marco Rubio tweeted: “Whether it’s through China’s BRI, debt-trap policy, or other false promises, nations in our region must remain vigilant of the threat of doing business with Beijing.”

Despite a range of policy makers and researcher debunking Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) activities as ‘debt-trapping’ – even by World Bank researches who descibed BRI as ‘largely beneficial’ – Western and allied groups have continually stocked fears and misunderstandings of what the BRI is and the role it is playing in human development.

Yet, in the face of this, China continues to prioritize engagement with developing nations. So what’s the BRI and what are some of its implications for Africa? Amadeus and Mika discuss.

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The Crane: An Africa-China Podcast is a bi-monthly podcast giving you a fresh look at the news, events, and debates around China-Africa relations from the perspective of two young(ish) Africans.

You can listen to all episodes of The Crane for free anywhere you get podcasts.

Brought to you by the Dongsheng Collective. Follow us @DongshengNews on Twitter, Instagram, Telegram & TikTok. Or visit www.dongshengnews.org.

The bumper music uses the song "Live It" by Ketsa, under a single track perpetual license that gives the licensee the perpetual right to use the track in commercial projects worldwide.

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