Month: October 2021

Although China has not said much of Taiwan's trade office in the self-declared state of Somaliland since it opened last year, it's nonetheless evident that Taipei's official presence in the Horn of Africa gives them heartburn, particularly among diplomats at the embassy in Mogadishu. ...

Once a holdout on the COVID-19 vaccination front, Burundi is now accepting vaccine donations from countries around the world, including China. A batch of 500,000 doses of Sinopharm arrived last week in the economic hub of Bujumbura. The shipment, $3 million ...

On Friday DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi hinted during a meeting of the Council of Ministers (the DRC's cabinet) that he wants to bring an end to the ongoing dispute with Chinese mining companies over unfair contracts. The President 

The UN's biodiversity convention, known as COP15, opened on Tuesday in the southern Chinese city of Kunming. President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address and announced that China will commit $230 million to help developing countries protect endangered plant and animal wildlife. Even as China is currently bingeing ...

By Lukas Fiala and Hugo Jones, China Foresight LSE IDEAS With environment and climate change concerns at the center of attention ahead of the upcoming COP26 in Glasgow, Beijing is increasingly seeking to portray China as a leader in combatting climate ...

An often contentious leaderless summit took place last in Montepellier where African youth activists did not hold back in telling French President Emmanuel Macron what they thought needed to be done to improve ties between the two regions. Eric & Cobus ...

Kenya's Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani provided parliament with an upbeat forecast of the country's economic recovery in the post-pandemic era. Yatani reaffirmed on Wednesday his earlier projection that economic growth would remain at a healthy 6% next year and the country's ballooning fiscal deficit ...

There's been mounting criticism of Chinese development projects in Africa by both political and civil society actors in response to rising debt levels, environmental degradation, and the maltreatment of local workers by Chinese managers. While many put the burden of responsibility ...

It's still relatively rare that Chinese ambassadors in Africa do interviews with the international media and even it's more notable that a relatively new envoy makes himself available to publications like the Paris-based magazine and website Jeune Afrique (JA). Hu Bin, ...

Electronics retailers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's southern commercial hub, are reporting acute shortages of laptops, mobile phones, and other electronic devices imported from China. Logistics experts there say the disruptions are due to what's described as a "perfect storm" of supply chain disruption that could ...

Tech entrepreneur Jorge Appiah wants to revolutionize how people and goods get around Ghana by making transportation cheaper and, more important, cleaner. The CEO and Founder of SolarTaxi, a start-up launched in 2019 focused on electric-powered mobility solutions for both businesses and consumers, is ...

Chinese lending to developing countries has come under sharp focus since the release of several reports that have reshaped the debate. Unsurprisingly, many news reports, like the BBC’s “China: Big spender or loan shark” are ringing the alarm bells. However, I’d argue that the reports should rather prompt new ...