Félix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, left for a trip to Beijing last week amid sky-high expectations of both new deals and the significant reworking of current agreements widely seen in his country as favoring Chinese actors. None of this happened.
Instead, he returned with a fistful of non-binding MoUs to widespread dissatisfaction back home. Since then, DRC officials have worked overtime to try and spin the trip as a longer-term ...
Day: March 30, 2020
Tweet of the Day: China’s Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe Uses Less Than Diplomatic Language to Describe the U.S. President
China's typically non-combative deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhao Baogang, revealed his feelings about Donald Trump, accusing the U.S. president of being "arrogant" and "lying all the time." This is a rather sharp rhetorical escalation for Zhao, who has until now focused his social media account on ...
Chinese Companies in Zimbabwe Pay for Major Renovation of Harare’s Main COVID-19 Care Center
Workers at Harare's central medical center, Wilkins Hospital, are putting the final touches on a major renovation project that was funded by Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe. It's not immediately clear which companies were involved in the half-million-dollar upgrade of the ...
Huawei Joins COVID-19 Relief Effort in East Africa With High Tech Donations
The Chinese telecom giant Huawei is stepping up its CSR efforts in East Africa to support governments in the region with various technology solutions to aid their fight to contain the outbreak of COVID-19. These donations, and the accompanying media coverage, ...
Beijing’s “Mask Diplomacy” Now a Simmering Issue in the Increasingly Acrimonious U.S.-China Relationship
U.S. policymakers, journalists and other Washington, D.C. stakeholders have noted with growing alarm how China is leveraging the distribution of masks and other PPE used to contain COVID-19 to advance its diplomatic agenda around the world. There is a sense of ...
The U.S. Wants to be Very Clear That It, Not China, is the World’s Largest Provider of Humanitarian Aid
Amid headlines of Jack Ma's donation of COVID-19 PPE in Africa and a steady stream of news stories characterizing the U.S. as going "AWOL" in the fight against the global pandemic, the U.S. Department of State wants to remind everyone that America remains ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
DRC Government Tries to Reframe Underwhelming Beijing Visit
China Ramps Up “Mask Diplomacy” in Africa
The Chinese government appears to be taking full advantage of the country's newfound ability to produce extraordinary amounts of masks and other COVID-19 Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and using that gear to advance its diplomatic agenda in Africa and other regions around the world. ...
COVID-19 and the Crisis of National Development
COVID-19’s rapid move from warning sign to global pandemic has yanked the spotlight onto a number of questions humanity has been uneasily avoiding for years. Beyond the human-focused ones like how to keep a global economy running when flights are shut down, it has also drawn attention ...