As thousands of citizens protest China’s encroaching role in Hong Kong, anti-Beijing sentiment is hitting an all time high in the special administrative region. In The African Angle, Ufrieda Ho argues that South Africa, a country increasingly intertwined with China, should take notice of Hong Kong’s growing frustration.

Beijing though, is the master of exerting subtle pressure, putting on the squeeze not through policy or the contractual fine print, but through something altogether less tangible, less obvious, but potent and real all the same. And this soft power is not just about creating new narratives for China as the benign partner for the continent or about balancing news and views, as Beijing is repeatedly at pains to stress.

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