Day: June 23, 2021
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If You Want a Preview of the FOCAC Agenda, Look at What Xi Said During the China-ASEAN Summit
President Xi Jinping spoke on the opening day of the virtual China-ASEAN leaders summit on Monday and laid out a five-point plan that echoes many of the themes that Chinese officials have been hinting will be discussed at the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) ...
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Senegalese Government Officials Are Ready to Say 你好 (Hello) to Thousands of Chinese Visitors Attending Next Week’s FOCAC
Dozens of Senegalese officials from throughout the government have completed a Chinese language and culture training program at the University of Dakar's Confucius Institute in preparation for next week's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation conference that will take place next week. The ...
Kenyan Labor Union Calls For Employees of a Chinese State-Owned Contractor to Strike, Police Arrest 5
Members of the Kenya Ceramics Tiles, Wood Ply, and Interiors Designers Workers Union have gone on strike to protest working conditions at construction sites run by the China State Construction Engineering Cooperation (CSCEC). The union submitted a list of 11 grievances (photo) against the company that ...
The Back Story of China’s Most Popular Vlogger in Africa
Wang Yao had lived in East Africa for more than a decade and became increasingly frustrated with the way that Africa was depicted in the Chinese media. When he searched for "Africa" on search engines or social video sites, all he got were the usual memes about ...
China’s Response to Blinken’s Africa Tour: Indifference Mixed With Anger
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued two seemingly contradictory messages on Monday in response to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's new foreign policy strategy for Africa, which avoided any references to China. The Secretary went out of his way during last week's three-nation African tour ...
FOCAC PERSPECTIVES: Appeals For More People-to-People Ties and For Mutual Respect Between Chinese and Africans
Every day leading up to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation conference on November 29th and 30th, CAP will feature perspectives from journalists, academics, activists, and business leaders about what they hope will emerge from the FOCAC event in Dakar. If you ...
China is Stepping Up Its Opposition to Proposed U.S. Sanctions Against Ethiopia
The Chinese government on Wednesday issued its most forceful denunciation to date against proposed U.S. sanctions on Ethiopia for the war in Tigray. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said possible U.S. measures against Ethiopian officials involved in the conflict is a "wanton exertion ...
Xi’s Pledge to Halt Building Coal Plants Overseas Sparks Mix of Excitement, Confusion, and Even Some Concern
Environmentalists around the world celebrated Chinese President Xi Jinping's announcement at the UN this week that Beijing would stop building coal-fired power plants overseas. But the news prompted concern in some of the countries where more than 20 Chinese financed coal-fired power ...
First U.S. Conservatives Thought IMF SDRs Would Bolster China, Now Some Say It’s The Solution to Countering Beijing
U.S. conservatives can't seem to agree if the issuance of IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) is a "bail-out" for China, or a tool to counter Beijing's growing influence in the Global South. Sam Brownback, a veteran Christian conservative politician on the ...
Everywhere You Look in the DR Congo, Chinese Entities Are Suddenly Getting a Lot of Good Press
A noticeable increase in positive media coverage about Chinese companies and government-backed development projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that began last week is showing no signs of abating, with leading news outlets publishing a stream of favorable stories. ...
Many Nigerians Feel Abandoned By Their Government For Not Enforcing Labor Laws at Chinese Companies
This summer's death of Onyinye Onwuegbusi, a young translator at a Chinese-owned factory in Nigeria, has sparked a national campaign to draw attention to the prevalence of forced labor and the lack of occupational safety measures at many Chinese companies operating in the country.
Meet Wang Yao, Entrepreneur, Vlogger, and a Guy Who Looks Like He’s Living His Best Life in Kenya
Wang Yao 王垚 is a truly unique character who's not only built a hugely successful second-hand clothing business in Kenya but has also become a celebrity on Chinese social media platforms where he now has almost 5 million followers. Wang first came ...
Tshisekedi Keeps Promise to Re-Negotiate Foreign Mining Contracts, Launches Investigation Into China Moly
DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi is following through with his promise to review all foreign mining contracts, mostly with Chinese companies, to evaluate whether the deals that were struck during his predecessor's tenure are equitable.
Sino-Congolese Mining Venture Sicomines Launches Conveniently Timed Social Development Program
The Sino-Congolese mining company Sicomines held a signing ceremony on Saturday for one of its largest community development initiatives in the joint venture's 14-year history. The company will spend almost $12 million to upgrade the infrastructure and provide development assistance to local communities around its ...
Congolese Governor Orders Suspension of Six Chinese Mining Companies in South Kivu Over Environmental Violations
Théo Ngwabidje Kasi (photo), governor of South Kivu province in the Eastern DR Congo, ordered six Chinese-owned mining companies to suspend operations in a bid to "restore order" after weeks of mounting tensions between the companies and the community. Three Congolese companies were also ...
Yet Another Social Media Video Revealing Tensions Between Chinese and Congolese Miners
In what's becoming an increasingly frequent pattern, another video appeared online on Sunday showing a heated exchange between a Chinese and Congolese miner. The video that is now circulating widely on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube does not provide a lot of contextual information as to ...
Terrorists in Pakistan Again Target Chinese Nationals in What’s Become an Unprecedented Challenge For the Belt and Road
Residents of the Pakistani port city of Gwadar gathered this weekend to mourn the death of two children killed on Friday by a suicide bomber who once again targeted Chinese nationals. A group called the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, the third ...
Reports of a Chinese “Black Site” in the UAE Used to Target Uyghurs Gaining Momentum in U.S. Media
The Washington Post picked up on a story today about an alleged Chinese "black site" in Dubai that was reportedly used to detain a young Chinese woman and at least two Uyghurs. The Post based its Editorial on a story published last ...
China Slams Economist Report on Beijing’s Financing of New Fishing Port in Sierra Leone
The Chinese Foreign Ministry seemingly went out of its way on Friday to challenge an August 19th story published by The Economist that was critical of China's plans to finance the construction of a new deep-water fishing port in Sierra Leone: "many Sierra Leoneans fret ...
Barbados PM Pushes Back on BBC Journalist About China’s Growing Investments in the Caribbean
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley took exception to questions posed by BBC journalist Zeinab Badawi in a recent interview for the program Global Questions that the Caribbean country is at risk of becoming a "pawn" of China due to rising investment. Even ...
Welcome to the New Era of China-Africa Relations
China's apparent decision to bail on financing the $2.8 billion AKK pipeline in Nigeria is the latest evidence that Beijing's strategy to engage the continent has changed, a lot. This pipeline is now the third major project in Nigeria ...
Week in Review: Trade, Tilapia and Transmission Lines
Wycliffe Oparanya, governor of Kenya's Kakamega County, opened a new $120 million EU-financed fish processing factory that is intended to help Kenya reduce its dependence on imported Chinese tilapia and increase exports to Europe. Local fishers have long complained that low-cost Chinese imports, which they claim are also ...
Senegal Launches Digital Sovereignty Initiative With New Chinese-Backed Data Center
Senegal is following China's lead in pursuing a new "digital sovereignty" initiative that will require all government data and digital platforms on foreign servers to be stored in a new national data center. "We have to rapidly repatriate all national data hosted out of the country,”
China’s Xinjiang Coalition Holds as Not a Single African or Muslim Majority Country Signs New Human Rights Statement
China's hard work in compelling African, Middle Eastern, and most other Global South countries to avoid criticizing Beijing on human rights issues in Xinjiang appears to be paying off. On Tuesday, Canada along with 43 other countries submitted a joint statement to the United ...
NGO Report: DRC is the “Loser” in the Sicomines Mega-Mining Deal With China
The DR Congo will be saddled with debt and poor quality infrastructure as a result of the faulty 2008 deal between the state-run mining company Gecamines and a consortium of Chinese investors, according to a new report by the Kinshasa-based NGO African Resources Watch ...
South Africa Pharmaceutical Regulator Says It Won’t Be Bullied Into Approving Chinese and Russian Vaccines
Officials from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) say they will not be bullied or intimidated to approve Chinese or Russian COVID-19 vaccines. The South African government is coming under mounting criticism for its failures to provide sufficient vaccines ...
DRC Wants to Renegotiate Chinese Mining Deals. It Won’t Be Easy.
DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi last month traveled to the country's mining heartland in Upper Katanga to personally tell everyone that he's had enough of business as usual and that he plans to renegotiate unfair foreign mining contracts. While he didn't ...
Q&A: How the Chinese Private Sector Can Help Develop Pharmaceutical Production Capacity in Africa
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp relief the highly unsustainable fact that African countries together import over 70% of all pharmaceutical and medical products. Yet, 34 out of 55 African countries have some level of pharmaceutical production, with countries offering an array of incentives ...
A New China-Africa Think Tank Aims to Fill a Big Void
While Africa is home to a number of world-class think tanks, very few have deep expertise in China and Asian affairs more broadly. This week, a group of young scholars launched the Afro-Sino Centre for International Relations ...
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa Scheduled to Receive First Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccine Tomorrow
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa will head to the resort city of Victoria Falls tomorrow to receive his first injection of a COVID-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac and kick off the second phase of the country's national vaccination drive. Last week,
Egypt Poised to Become First African Country to Manufacture Chinese Vaccines
Talks between China and Egypt to launch a new manufacturing facility have reportedly reached "an advanced stage." The planned facility will produce COVID-19 vaccines made by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd, according to Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed. At a press conference on Monday ...
Qatar and Saudi Arabia Both Place Long Term Bets on China
With oil and gas demand in the U.S. and Europe expected to fall dramatically in the years ahead as both regions embrace a post-carbon economy, two of the world's largest energy exporters, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are now looking to China to fill the void. Ministers and ...
Favorable Views of China, France Both Fall in 12-Nation African Survey
Opinion leaders in 12 French and Arabic speaking African countries look less favorably upon France and China, according to the findings of the third annual survey conducted by the French Council of Investors in Africa (CIAN), an independent business association. China fell 9 points this past year ...
One French Scholar’s Widely Published Article This Week Encapsulates Every Anxiety About China’s Influence in Africa
The popular perception of China's steadily growing presence in Africa has long been viewed with skepticism among France's political, media, and academic elites who have historically regarded the continent, particularly francophone countries, as a traditional sphere of influence. Most analysis and ...
Start Imagining a Post-Carbon China, and Africa
Chinese total carbon emissions could peak by 2028, with emissions coming from the electricity sector topping out as early as 2025. This is according to Liu Zhenya, who runs the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization, a Beijing-based think tank. Liu’s previous job is maybe more ...
With Major Repayments to China Coming Due, Kenya’s Debt Servicing Costs Gobble Up More of the National Budget
Beginning in July, Kenya's debt repayment will cross the psychologically important barrier of 1 trillion shillings ($9.15 billion), according to the National Treasury, prompting renewed concerns over the country's ability to sustain a debt portfolio that has doubled in size since 2017.
Analyst: Nigeria on the Cusp of a Debt Crisis, But Loans From China Not to Blame
The Nigerian Debt Management Office on Monday revealed that it has $5.8 billion of borrowed money on its books that it hasn't disbursed. This prompted new worries among some financial analysts that the actual debt-to-GDP ratio has surpassed 100%, meaning that the country has taken on so ...
Chinese Financing to Latin America Fell to Zero in 2020, Providing a Cautionary Tale For Africa and Other Developing Regions
There's new evidence of the dramatic plunge in Chinese overseas development finance. Researchers in the United States found that for the first time in more than a decade, China's two largest policy banks, the China Development Bank and the China Exim Bank, did not ...
China to Provide Egypt With an Additional 300,000 Doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 Vaccine
Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed announced that China will provide an additional 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Egypt in the coming days, the second such donation in as many months. But the Chinese contribution is quite small relative to the 40 million jabs that ...
The Economist: Half of the World’s COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Has Been Reserved for Just 15% of The Population
The Economist produced a compelling visual image that highlights the stark inequity in COVId-19 vaccine distribution around the world and how a disproportionate quantity of jabs are being hoarded by wealthy countries in the Global North. Click ...
Chinese Foreign Ministry Issues a Rare, Albeit Bland, Statement on the Conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region
The Chinese government has been characteristically mute on the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia since fighting broke out last November. This is by no means surprising, given that the Chinese foreign ministry does its level best to avoid commenting on conflicts in other countries which it regards as the ...
China Benefits from the West’s Shortsighted Vaccine Policy
Focusing on China-Africa issues on a daily basis now means a daily dose of vaccine news (in lieu of an actual vaccine dose.) This morning I gamely waded into a great new Slate explainer on the vaccine crisis, only to promptly lose my mind. The article outlined ...
A Taliban security personnel operating an anti-aircraft gun keeps watch for Pakistani airstrikes near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Nangarhar province on February 27, 2026 following overnight cross-border fighting between the two countries. Photo by AIMAL ZAHIR / AFP
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif declared "open war" against Afghanistan on Friday amid a surge of fighting between the two South Asian neighbors. Pakistan said it's retaliating against Afghanistan for a series of attacks, including a suicide bombing in early February that killed at least 36 people ...
Senegal Launches Digital Sovereignty Initiative With New Chinese-Backed Data Center
Senegal is following China's lead in pursuing a new "digital sovereignty" initiative that will require all government data and digital platforms on foreign servers to be stored in a new national data center. "We have to rapidly repatriate all national data hosted out of the country,”
China’s Xinjiang Coalition Holds as Not a Single African or Muslim Majority Country Signs New Human Rights Statement
China's hard work in compelling African, Middle Eastern, and most other Global South countries to avoid criticizing Beijing on human rights issues in Xinjiang appears to be paying off. On Tuesday, Canada along with 43 other countries submitted a joint statement to the United ...
NGO Report: DRC is the “Loser” in the Sicomines Mega-Mining Deal With China
The DR Congo will be saddled with debt and poor quality infrastructure as a result of the faulty 2008 deal between the state-run mining company Gecamines and a consortium of Chinese investors, according to a new report by the Kinshasa-based NGO African Resources Watch ...
South Africa Pharmaceutical Regulator Says It Won’t Be Bullied Into Approving Chinese and Russian Vaccines
Officials from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) say they will not be bullied or intimidated to approve Chinese or Russian COVID-19 vaccines. The South African government is coming under mounting criticism for its failures to provide sufficient vaccines ...
DRC Wants to Renegotiate Chinese Mining Deals. It Won’t Be Easy.
DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi last month traveled to the country's mining heartland in Upper Katanga to personally tell everyone that he's had enough of business as usual and that he plans to renegotiate unfair foreign mining contracts. While he didn't ...