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Human Rights in a New Geopolitical Order

China’s abstention from the UN vote to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, together with India and almost half of Africa, was a reminder that despite all the pro-Ukraine sentiment on Western social media, the global bulwark against Russia is pretty leaky. Rama Yade, the Senegalese-born former French ...

Nickel Trading Halted on the London Metals Exchange Following a Chinese Company’s $8 Billion Loss

Authorities at the London Metal Exchange took the unprecedented move to halt trading in nickel on Tuesday after prices for the metal doubled to $100,000 a ton. The sharp upsurge came in response to concerns over supply disruptions in Russia, one of the world's largest ...

The Tsingshan Nickel Crisis Couldn’t Have Come at Worse Time for Zimbabwe

News that Chinese steel and mining giant Tsingshan Holdings Group now faces a staggering $8 billion trading loss over short sales of nickel is no doubt prompting considerable anxiety among policymakers in Zimbabwe. Just this week, Tsingshan's local subsidiary in Zimbabwe, ...

Nigeria’s Transport Minister Once Friendly Ties With Chinese Contractors Appears to Sour

Nigerian Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with officials from the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC.) The meeting is widely expected to be contentious, because of the slow pace of work on the 203 kilometer Kaduna to Kano railway.

What Did Chinese Community Leaders in Africa Think of the Two Sessions Meeting in Beijing?

Since last Friday, Chinese news has carried wall-to-wall coverage of the Two Sessions "parliamentary pageant" in Beijing. Not surprisingly, it's been followed by Chinese expats across Africa. The Two Sessions meetings provide a rare glimpse into the ...

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 ...

The Ukraine Crisis Raises Questions for the Global South About China’s Foreign Policy

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has unmasked serious contradictions in China’s foreign policy. In theory it would have triggered China’s staunch opposition to foreign interference in sovereign states. In reality, the non-intervention principle coexists awkwardly with Beijing’s aversion to Western-led blocs like ...