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China’s Jumbled Positions on the Ukraine War Are Going to Complicate Its Diplomacy in Africa

China's newly appointed Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, formally began his new role last week just days before the Russian military began its assault on Ukraine. The timing couldn't have been worse for Xue who is already facing a steep learning ...

BRICS Buck the Rest of the World in Firmly Opposing Russia’s War on Ukraine

In an odd alignment of diplomatic symmetry, the four non-Russian members of the BRICS group have all refused to join the global movement to condemn Russia for its assault on neighboring Ukraine. There's no evidence that any of these countries are coordinating their response with one another ...

New Research Concludes Uganda’s Entebbe Airport Was Never at Risk of Being Seized by Chinese Creditors

Uganda's Entebbe International Airport was never at risk of being seized by Chinese creditors in the event of a default on the $200 million loan, according to new research by Brad Parks and Ammar Malik at AidData in the United States. ...

Equatorial Guinea’s Top Officials Have Been Very Busy Lately Hosting U.S. and Chinese Delegations

It's been a very busy week for great power diplomacy in the Equatoguinean capital of Malabo. On Saturday, Foreign Minister Simeón Oyono Esono Angue hosted a delegation led by Chinese ambassador Qi Mei to discuss unspecified "international events." That mean ...

Stadium Diplomacy in Africa is Fashionable Again

Early on in China's engagement in Africa, the Chinese were big on gifting sports stadiums to African governments as part of their soft power diplomatic outreach on the continent. Later, Chinese infrastructure development shifted focus to larger, more conventional projects like bridges, railroads and highways but now ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Revealing Reactions to China’s Festival of Optics

In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...

South Africa’s Limpopo Province Approves $10 Billion Chinese-Finance Coal Project… But There’s Just One Very Small Problem

South Africa's Limpopo Province gave the go-ahead last week for a $10 billion industrial project that includes a 4,600-megawatt coal power plant, a coking facility, and a steel plant. The approval is critical for the development of the controversial Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone. ...