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: October 26, 2020
Egypt is the Newest Front in the U.S.-China Battle Over Huawei and Chinese Tech in Africa
The United States brought its campaign against Huawei to Egypt as part of a global effort to promote Washington's new "Clean Network" initiative that aims to build an alternative to China's dominance in the international telecom networking market. ...
Ghanaian Presidential Candidate Doesn’t See the Justice in Locking Up Locals for Illegal Mining When Chinese Are Released
Opposition National Democratic Congress presidential candidate John Mahama scolded the government for releasing Chinese nationals caught engaging in illegal artisanal mining (locally known as galamsey) while locking up locals for doing the same thing. “Our youth have been imprisoned for their involvement in ...
Cobalt Prices Slump Even as China Ramps Up Imports and the U.S. Declares National Emergency Over Critical Materials Supply Chains
Neither China's recent cobalt buying binge nor a declaration of a state of emergency by U.S. President Donald Trump about securing the supply chains for strategic minerals, including cobalt, have been enough to boost the price of the chemical element, which is used to make batteries for ...
With a Golden Boot on Her Foot, Barbara Banda Returns Home From China as a Star
20-year old Women's Chinese League sensation Barbara Banda returned home to Zambia last week where she was greeted as a genuine star after winning the Golden Boot, the league's most valuable player award. Banda trained with the Lusaka Dynamos Ladies FC as ...
Let’s Call It… China’s Won the Vaccine Diplomacy Contest
The White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows admitted this weekend what many of us have known for a long time: that the United States has all but given up in the fight against COVID-19. “We’re not going to control the pandemic,” Meadows told CNN's ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Awkward Timing as Italy Withdraws from BRI
China’s Input Ensured the Elimination of Schistosomiasis from Zanzibar’s Pemba Island
The WHO and the Tanzanian government have heralded a Chinese project to combat schistosomiasis in Pemba island, Zanzibar, which ran from 2016 until this year. Its successful implementation of good practices like broad-based cooperation and its flexible project design to accommodate local specificities might have received more ...
The China-Mediterranean Observer: In Forging Closer Ties With China, Iran Wants to Avoid Past Mistakes
As per usual, the articles published by the wider Mediterranean region’s media offer interesting insights into how China is perceived. Among the most valuable ones, we found commentaries published in Iran that further shed light on the local perception of the much-discussed new cooperation agreement between Beijing ...
Nigeria’s Dreams and Nightmares
Earlier this month, the Nigerian opposition politician Peter Obi delivered the 60th Founder’s Day lecture at the University of Nigeria. In his talk he took a swipe at the incumbent government’s handling of the current economic crisis, saying that instead of taking loans from China, Nigeria ...