When it was announced in 2023 that the African Union would become a full member of the G20, I darkly joked on a podcast that the AU’s entry into the body could very well mark the moment the G20 lost its status as one of the most important global coordination forums. Mark my words, I said, soon The Economist will be like “Uhhh, the G20 is OVER – it’s the ...
Day: April 12, 2021
Related Posts
DRC Take Note: China’s BYD Says It’ll No Longer Used Cobalt in Its Electric Vehicles
Shenzhen-based electric vehicle giant BYD (aka Build Your Dreams), the world's second-largest EV-maker, recently made a stunning announcement that it will no longer use cobalt in any of its vehicles. Instead, the company is going all-in on LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) batteries in place of ...
Africa Check (Again) Tries to Debunk Misperceptions About Nigeria’s Debts to China
Concerns over Chinese debt sustainability in Nigeria have resurfaced recently due to the government's jump-starting the construction of a $5.3 billion standard gauge railway that will be built and financed through concessional lending by the Chinese government. Also, a ...
China CDC Director’s Vaccine Efficacy Admission Could Have Profound Implications For Africa
Gao Fu, the head of China's Center for Disease Control, appeared to have inadvertently set off an international controversy when he admitted, for the first time by a Chinese official, that China's vaccines are less effective than the messenger RNA vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech ...
Controversy? What Controversy? Somalia Enthusiastically Welcomes the Arrival of Chinese Vaccines
While the controversy over the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines raged back in China and online, Somalis seemed either blissfully unaware or simply unconcerned when a shipment of 200,000 Sinopharm jabs arrived at the airport in Mogadishu on Sunday. (@CHINESESOMALIA).
Building an Alternate BRI Will be High on Japanese PM Suga’s Agenda When He Meets With Biden on Friday in DC
The Japanese Prime Minister's office is indicating that infrastructure and building an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative will be high on the agenda when Yoshihide Suga visits Washington on Friday for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden.
U.S. Senate Proposal to Fund “Independent Media” to Report “Negative Impact” of BRI in Developing Countries Generates Some Giggles in Washington
The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee wants to give a lot of money to local media in BRI member countries "to raise awareness of and increase transparency regarding the negative impact of activities related to the Belt and Road Initiative."