Sitting in the train car’s freshly upholstered seat, Ethiopia’s transport minister Workneh Gebeyehu leaned forward as he spoke to a reporter from the state broadcaster, China Central Television.
“This is really a game changer for the economy of this land,” he said, proudly.
It was October 2016, and Gebeyehu was showing off the brand new, 472-mile train line linking Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa, to its neighbor on the Red Sea, Djibouti. Over 90 percent of Ethiopia’s international trade passes through the Port of Djibouti, and the Addis-Djibouti Railway promised to slash cargo trips from weeks to hours, ushering in a golden age of economic prosperity.
Billboards across Addis put it simpler: “New Railway. New Life.”
The Addis-Djibouti Railway promised new life for more than just the Horn of Africa. As a linchpin of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the railway’s Chinese backers hoped it would unlock the region’s economic potenti
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from David Barboza, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Shanghai correspondent for The New York Times.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
The Chinese corporate bond market was designed for lending convenience, not the legal practicality of retrieving money. But with potential defaults by Suning and other reputable companies looming, that system is now being tested.
The pro-democracy activist talks about how the Hong Kong protests changed international sentiment about China and why the right to self-determination still matters.
