Day: May 19, 2020
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It’s Time to Up Your China Game
Over the past few weeks, I've had the pleasure to speak with scholars, policymakers, and leaders from three different regions along China's Belt and Road. These have been fascinating discussions that explored China's engagement in these varied parts of the world. ...
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Zambia Central Bank Gov: Equal Treatment to Blame for Default
Zambia's Central Bank Governor Christopher Mvunga said the need to treat all of its creditors equally is the reason why the government couldn't repay bondholders a $42.5 million interest payment that was due last Saturday. “One of the conditions is that all creditors have to be treated equally. ...
China’s Top SSA Diplomat Praises Zambia-Exim Bank Deferral Deal, Makes No Mention of Default
China's top diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa, Wu Peng, issued the first comment by any Chinese official on the Zambian debt crisis since the country defaulted on a bond payment last Saturday. Wu noted the China Exim Bank's $110 million debt deferral deal that took ...
Who’s to Blame For Zambia’s Debt Crisis? Don’t Just Point the Finger at China Says Zambian Scholar
Zambian economist Grieve Chelwa took aim at the international financial services industry and governments in the U.S. and Europe in a scathing editorial published today in South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper. He vented his frustration over how the story of ...
Passenger Traffic’s Up on Kenya’s New SGR But Will It Be Enough to Save the Embattled Railway?
Travelers are making their way back to Kenya's Standard Gauge Railways, especially the line between Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa, according to new data published by the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC). 43,235 people took the Mombasa ...
Egypt Returns 31 Ancient Chinese Coins
China's ambassador to Egypt, Liao Liqiang, welcomed the return of 31 ancient coins that were handed over yesterday by the Egyptian government. "The Chinese side sincerely thanks Egypt for protecting and returning cultural property stolen from the country of origin," said Ambassador Liao ...
It’s Make or Break Time in Zambia as the Government, Bondholders, and China All Face-Off
A dramatic showdown is taking place in Zambia. Bondholders, Chinese creditors, and the government are all involved, and the fate of the country's financial stability is at stake. A crucial vote is scheduled to take place tomorrow that will likely determine if Zambia will become ...
FT Editorial: Transparency Is the Key to Solving the Zambian Debt Crisis
The Financial Times newspaper published a sharply worded editorial this weekend that called on Chinese creditors and Zambian borrowers to be more transparent in their dealings with one another in order to avoid what looks increasingly like an imminent default on some of the southern Africa's country's ...
Chinese Diplomats in Nigeria, South Africa Mount Counterattack To U.S.-Led Predatory Lending Accusations
Two senior-level Chinese diplomats in Africa are speaking out against U.S.-led accusations that Beijing engages in predatory lending on the continent, or "debt trap" diplomacy. In separate appearances, Chu Maoming, the consul general in Lagos, Nigeria, and Li Nan, the deputy chief of mission (DCM) at the ...
U.S. Government Launches New Investment Program With the Aim of Providing African Countries an Alternative to China
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Washington, D.C.-based think tank The Atlantic Council organized a five-hour online conference on Friday to discuss a new, private-sector-led initiative that aims to drive more U.S. investment towards Africa. The "Investing in Africa's Future" seminar featured many of ...
Huawei’s CSR Efforts in Africa Are Surprisingly Successful
Chinese companies are generally not well known for implementing successful corporate social responsibility programs. CSR, for the most part, is still a relatively new concept in China. But Huawei's efforts in Africa, particularly since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year, is proving to be ...
Meet Zhao Zhiyuan, China’s Unusual Incoming Ambassador to Ethiopia
China's newly-appointed ambassador to Ethiopia Zhao Zhiyuan will take up his new post in Addis Ababa soon where he will replace Tan Jian who left his post last month in what was described as a regular rotation. But Zhao comes to ...
The New U.S. Plan to Challenge Huawei is Dead on Arrival in Africa
The United States is stepping up its efforts to try and contain Chinese tech companies like Huawei with a new development financing program that aims to persuade countries in places like Africa to avoid using equipment made by the telecom giant. ...
It’s Been a Violent Year for Chinese Workers in Africa
Aside from everything else going on, 2020 is proving to be a rather violent year for Chinese workers in Africa, particularly in Nigeria. Today's news that yet another Chinese national was taken hostage by kidnappers who raided a construction site in Niger state follows a ...
China’s Foreign Ministry Issues First Statement on Taiwan Opening a Rep Office in Somaliland
The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded on Tuesday to Taiwan's opening of a new representative office earlier this week in the self-declared state of Somaliland in the Horn of Africa. At his regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, spokesman Zhao Lijian repeated Beijing's longstanding position that "Taiwan ...
9 Nigerians Killed, 1 Chinese Kidnapped in Violent Assault on a Road Construction Site in Niger State
A group of heavily armed Muslim Fulani bandits raided at a road construction site on Monday in the central Nigerian state of Niger. The assailants apparently targeted expatriates and began shooting. Nearby private security forces responded and forced the gunmen to retreat, but not before ...
Claims of a Cover-Up and Intimidation Cloud Investigation of Labor Abuse by Chinese Steel Company in Nigeria
Anonymous accusations of widespread labor abuses at a Chinese-owned steel company in the Nigerian state of Abia have sparked a heated controversy, as the company and its allies rebut the charges. Last week, an unknown individual using the Twitter handle @Truthfully83
The Maritime Implications of Growing China-Iran Strategic Ties
Abhijit Singh, a former Indian naval officer and now a senior fellow who heads the Maritime Policy Initiative at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation explores the implications of a China-Iran strategic partnership in the context of naval power. Singh points ...
After Years of Enduring Painful Racist Attacks, Zhong Feifei is Now Having a Moment
The biracial Chinese-Congolese model/popstar/beauty blogger/social media influencer/reality TV star Zhong Feifei endured years of vicious racist attacks online for her skin tone, curly hair, and, well, because she's far outside of the mainstream of Chinese female beauty standards. But ...
The China-Mediterranean Observer: Chinese and Iranian Analysts Are Not Aligned on Proposed Pact
We found a number of very interesting articles published by the media of the wider Mediterranean region that provide important insights into some of the most interesting aspects of China’s relations with the countries there. Though we selected articles published by the media of a number of ...
A Not-So-Extraordinary Summit
This week's 'Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19' was largely uneventful. The initiatives announced in President Xi Jinping's address were either projects that had already been announced before (China building the Africa CDC, which will now be accelerated) or long-term Chinese standard operating procedure ...
China Provides Aid to Malawi’s Embattled Health System as it Struggles to Contain COVID-19 Outbreak
The establishment of a diplomatic relationship between Malawi and China in 2007 has seen China provide medical training of doctors, nurses, and health managers, sending medical teams from China and offering different specialist clinical services to hospital patients. China’s commitment to ...
China’s Unconventional Agricultural Assistance in Zambia
Daisy Kambandu, the country program manager for the Chinese-run Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center (ATDC) in Zambia, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss China's unconventional approach to agricultural assistance. In contrast to most traditional aid programs, ATDCs like the one near Lusaka ...
Deborah Brautigam: Don’t Expect China to Cancel Africa’s Debts, They’ll Probably Just Reschedule Them
So long as there's no official word from the Chinese government as to how they specifically plan to address the $150 billion of outstanding debts that African governments owe Bejing, everyone's speculating as to how they'll likely proceed. Professor Deborah Brautigam, ...
African Countries Sign on To Global Inquiry Into COVID-19 Origin
All African countries under the banner "The African Group and its Members States" are now part of a group of 110 countries who signed a World Health Organization draft resolution on Monday that calls for an inquiry into the origin of COVID-19.
Evan Feigenbaum: U.S. Making a Strategic Mistake in Challenging WHO Just as China Announces New COVID-19 Measures
Evan Feigenbaum, vice president of the Carnegie Endowment and a leading foreign affairs commentator in the United States, said the timing of President Donald Trump's threat to permanently defund the World Health Organization just as China is stepping up support for ...
Africa Emerges as a Key Theme in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Address to World Health Assembly
Chinese support for Africa and other developing regions around the world emerged as a key message point in President Xi Jinping's Monday address to the World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting. The WHA is the World Health Organization's governing forum, made up of health ministers. The president spoke ...
It Looks Increasingly Unlikely Africa Will be Able to Negotiate Package Debt Relief Deals With Either Private Creditors or the Chinese
Hopes for a consolidated African debt relief package from both private creditors and Chinese lenders appear to be fading. On Friday, news came that a coalition, the Africa Private Creditor Working Group or AfricaPCWG, representing 25 large asset managers and institutions had been formed to negotiate with borrowers.
In These Polarized Times, Talking About China is Not Easy
University of London Ph.D. candidate Li Hangwei commiserated on Twitter with Stanford University Political Science Professor Yiqing Xu about the perils of talking about China, both on social media and when conducting research. Both scholars noted how they're stuck in between being pro-CCP "Panda Huggers" ...
Now More Than Ever, FOCAC Must Absorb Shocks to China-Africa Ties
This year, the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) marks its 20th anniversary. As it turns 20, FOCAC’s role in shaping Sino-African relations has been remarkable. The forum is remarkable for many reasons. It shows China’s willingness to engage ...
China’s Aid Push and COVID-19 Revisionism Rankles the U.S.
The U.S. President and his supporters in conservative media are determined to link COVID-19 with China by insisting on referring to it as "Chinese" or "Wuhan virus" over the objections of the World Health Organization who work hard to avoid using locations or countries in the official ...
China Leveraging Its Deeply-embedded Media Ties in Africa to Tell its COVID-19 Aid Story
The Chinese government is leveraging its vast content distribution network in Africa to tell its story about its rapidly expanding anti-COVID-19 relief effort that's now underway. Articles written by Xinhua and other state-run media outlets are popping up across African news websites this week to showcase the ...
China Leveraging New Aid Push to “Flip the Script” on the COVID-19 Story Says China Scholar
The highly coordinated Chinese COVID-19 relief effort that is underway around the world is in part intended to provide badly-needed supplies to countries in need but also to shift the narrative about China's role in the entire COVID-19 saga. Now that ...
China Launches Massive Global COVID-19 Aid Campaign in Africa
Over the past several days China has rapidly escalated relief efforts in Africa and elsewhere around the world to help governments to contain the spread of COVID-19. Chinese state-run media outlets, official social media accounts and third-party media partners across Africa (see below) are flooded with stories ...
Reflections on Lin Songtian’s Reported Departure from South Africa
18-hours before the story broke on The Daily Maverick website, we heard rumors that China's outspoken, high-profile ambassador to South Africa, Lin Songtian, had been recalled. "Holy ^%#*$! That's huge!" I said to myself when I first heard about the news.
Daily Maverick: China’s Brash Outspoken Ambassador to South Africa “Recalled”
Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian is reportedly being recalled to Beijing according to a report in the Daily Maverick newspaper. The article quotes unnamed sources within South Africa's Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO) suggesting that Ambassador Lin will leave as soon as Monday.
Outrage, Fury and Sadness Over Yet Another Racist Chinese Video Featuring African Children
Chinese and African vloggers are responding with fury and sadness to the emergence of yet another racist video online that purportedly shows an off-camera Chinese producer instructing African children in an unknown country to say racist and demeaning phrases in Chinese.
Rumors of an Infected Chinese Worker in Kenya Persist Despite Embassy Denials
The Chinese embassy in Nairobi's efforts to dispel rumors that a Chinese national infected with COVID-19 bribed his way past health screenings at the airport in Nairobi and made his way to a Sinohydro worksite in southwestern Kenya appear to be failing.
Public Pressure Mounts on African Governments to do Something About Students Trapped in Wuhan
The plight of Kenya's students trapped in Wuhan, China is now a regular topic of discussion on primetime TV news programs adding new public pressure on the government to act. Similarly, hashtags like #NigeriansTrappedInWuhan are gaining popularity as students in Wuhan post increasingly ...
China’s Ambassador to South Africa, Lin Songtian, on COVID-19: “There Is No Need to Panic”
China's outspoken ambassador to South Africa, Lin Songtian, convened a press conference on Tuesday at the embassy in Pretoria to presumably update the media about the ongoing effort to contain the spread of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak. But he didn't reveal much new information, other ...
Chinese State Media Acted Like the Pompeo Visit Never Happened
When the U.S. Secretary of State travels abroad, most independent international news outlets consider it worthy of mention in their daily coverage. But not the Chinese state media. There's not a single news item, not even a brief mention, of Mike Pompeo's visit to Ethiopia on any ...
Maybe Pompeo Avoided Directly Talking About China During His Recent Africa Tour Because There’s Nothing More to Say
On his final stop of a three-nation African tour, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, where he held talks with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew, among others. And just as he did in Senegal and Angola,
Iranian women hold portraits of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the funerals of security forces personnel killed in recent protests in Tehran on January 14, 2026. Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP
By Andrea Ghiselli More than a hundred children at a girls’ primary school in Minab, in southern Iran, are reported dead. Missiles and drones are striking targets across Israel as well as the Gulf, from Kuwait to Oman, with the barrage not limited to military ...
Deborah Brautigam: Don’t Expect China to Cancel Africa’s Debts, They’ll Probably Just Reschedule Them
So long as there's no official word from the Chinese government as to how they specifically plan to address the $150 billion of outstanding debts that African governments owe Bejing, everyone's speculating as to how they'll likely proceed. Professor Deborah Brautigam, ...
African Countries Sign on To Global Inquiry Into COVID-19 Origin
All African countries under the banner "The African Group and its Members States" are now part of a group of 110 countries who signed a World Health Organization draft resolution on Monday that calls for an inquiry into the origin of COVID-19.
Evan Feigenbaum: U.S. Making a Strategic Mistake in Challenging WHO Just as China Announces New COVID-19 Measures
Evan Feigenbaum, vice president of the Carnegie Endowment and a leading foreign affairs commentator in the United States, said the timing of President Donald Trump's threat to permanently defund the World Health Organization just as China is stepping up support for ...
Africa Emerges as a Key Theme in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Address to World Health Assembly
Chinese support for Africa and other developing regions around the world emerged as a key message point in President Xi Jinping's Monday address to the World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting. The WHA is the World Health Organization's governing forum, made up of health ministers. The president spoke ...
It Looks Increasingly Unlikely Africa Will be Able to Negotiate Package Debt Relief Deals With Either Private Creditors or the Chinese
Hopes for a consolidated African debt relief package from both private creditors and Chinese lenders appear to be fading. On Friday, news came that a coalition, the Africa Private Creditor Working Group or AfricaPCWG, representing 25 large asset managers and institutions had been formed to negotiate with borrowers.
In These Polarized Times, Talking About China is Not Easy
University of London Ph.D. candidate Li Hangwei commiserated on Twitter with Stanford University Political Science Professor Yiqing Xu about the perils of talking about China, both on social media and when conducting research. Both scholars noted how they're stuck in between being pro-CCP "Panda Huggers" ...