Italy has announced its formal withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative after joining the China-centered infrastructure and investment project in 2019.
The timing of the announcement that Rome won’t renew its BRI commitment is notable. It came only a day before the EU-China summit, which kicks off on Thursday. The summit will likely be more contentious than usual, with European leaders expected to push China on the treatment of EU firms amid discussions ...
Day: July 30, 2020
Development Finance Emerges as the Newest Front in China’s Standoff With the U.S.
Chinese President Xi Jinping didn't mention the United States by name when he addressed the opening of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's annual meeting this week, but he didn't really have to in order to get his point across.
More African Countries Are Now Members of the AIIB But It’s Still Very Much an ASIAN Development Bank
This week's announcement that Liberia will become the newest member of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) highlighted the growing prominence that Africa now has in the bank. Currently, ten African states are members, with another nine waiting for their applications to be approved. ...
Uproar in Nigeria Over Fears that Chinese Loans Are Jeopardizing Sovereignty
A full-blown media and Twitter hysteria erupted on Wednesday in Nigeria over reports that a member of the House of Representatives discovered a clause in a Chinese loan contract that supposedly puts the country's sovereignty at risk in the event of default.
Be Careful, Warned Nigeria’s Transportation Minister, House Probe Threatens Chinese Loans
Nigerian Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, called on the house of representatives committee on treaties and agreements on Wednesday to suspend their investigation into past Chinese loans until Abuja has secured $500 million for three new loans to fund critical transportation projects.
The New Sino-Australian Simandou Iron Ore Mine in Guinea Emerges as an Important Geopolitical Focal Point
Policymakers in Canberra are no doubt looking up where Guinea is on a map, after learning of potential threats to Australia's $65 billion of iron ore export business to China. Australian ties with China have worsened considerably in ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Awkward Timing as Italy Withdraws from BRI
Arab Barometer: MENA Residents Have an Increasingly Favorable View of China
A new survey published by Arab Barometer, a Princeton University-affiliated non-partisan quantitative research institute, reveals increasingly favorable public perceptions of China in many countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. "In nine of 12 countries surveyed as part of the ...
Johnathan Fulton Urges Everyone to “Take a Deep Breath” About the China-Iran Deal
Zayed University Assistant Professor Johnathan Fulton is seemingly on a one-man mission to try and get everyone to calm down about news of a huge $400 billion, 25-year China-Iran oil-for-infrastructure deal. The deal has sounded alarms in places like Washington, D.C. ...
Journalist April Zhu on Reporting in Nairobi: “The City With a Plot”
The NüVoices podcast interviewed the Chinese-American freelance journalist April Zhu about her experience reporting on the China-Africa story from her home in Nairobi. April is an accomplished journalist who reports extensively on China-Africa issues with a distinctive emphasis on issues related to ...
Multilateralism With Chinese Characteristics
"Multilateralism" is undeniably Xi Jinping's favorite word these days. If he's scheduled to give an address with even a hint of foreign policy in it, you can put money down that you're going to hear that word or some variant of it. Just this week, in his ...