China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is undergoing some dramatic changes as Beijing pulls back on the massive loans that once defined it as the government is now forced to channel more funds domestically to bolster the country's slowing economy.Nowhere is that more evident than in Africa where we learned this week that lending in 2020 plunged 77% from the previous year to just $1.9 billion, a 16-year low.Cynthia Liao, a Schwarzman Academy Fellow in the Africa program at the London think tank Chatham House, has been closely following BRI developments in Africa and joins Eric & Cobus for a wide-ranging discussion on debt, climate change, and geopolitics.SHOW NOTES:Boston University: Chinese Loans to Africa Database: https://bit.ly/3Ls8dbZJOIN THE DISCUSSION:Twitter: @ChinaAfrProject | @stadenesque | @_CynthiaLiaoFacebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProjectFOLLOW CAP IN FRENCH AND ARABIC:Français: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChineعربي: www.akhbaralsin-africia.com | @AkhbarAlSinAfrJOIN US ON PATREON!Become a CAP 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 CAP Podcast mug!www.patreon.com/chinaafricaprojectSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.