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: August 18, 2020
Africa Debt Relief Update With Bloomberg’s Alonso Soto
Seven months into the worsening African debt crisis and still there's no prospect for any meaningful relief in sight. The situation grows even direr by the day as more countries struggle to pay for rising healthcare costs brought on by the ...
Tempers Flare in Nigerian House Hearing on Chinese Loans
Three weeks of steadily building tensions over Chinese loans to Nigeria erupted in a House committee hearing on Monday. Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi and the Chairman of the House Committee on Treaties, Protocols, and Agreements, Nicholas Ossai, confronted one another in a series of ...
With an Eye on China, G7 Finance Ministers Call on G20 Bilateral Creditors to Keep Their Debt Freeze Promises
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hosted a teleconference with his fellow finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich countries on Monday and the burgeoning debt crisis in the world's poorest countries was high on the agenda. The finance chiefs called ...
Deborah Brautigam on Whether the Burgeoning U.S.-China Conflict Will Complicate Debt Relief for Africa
Professor Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. reflected on the "war of words" between the World Bank, led by longstanding China-hawk David Malpass and Beijing. Brautigam explains that the concerns expressed by ...
Kenya’s Health Chief Denies Accusation Jack Ma’s Donated PPE Was Illegally Smuggled to Tanzania
Kenya's Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe came under fire on Monday from members of a parliamentary health committee, who demanded that he respond to allegations that the bulk of PPE donations given by the Jack Ma Foundation in March were illegally smuggled to neighboring ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Awkward Timing as Italy Withdraws from BRI
China’s Doing More But Spending Less in Africa
China is engaged in more Belt and Road-related projects in Africa but spending far less than it is in the Middle East and South Asia, according to new data from the Washington, D.C.-based consultancy RWR Advisory. In its latest IntelTrak report ...