Félix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, left for a trip to Beijing last week amid sky-high expectations of both new deals and the significant reworking of current agreements widely seen in his country as favoring Chinese actors. None of this happened.
Instead, he returned with a fistful of non-binding MoUs to widespread dissatisfaction back home. Since then, DRC officials have worked overtime to try and spin the trip as a longer-term ...
Day: September 28, 2022
Ghana Commissions First Roads Built Under Controversial Bauxite Deal
Ghana’s Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia this week commissioned the first road infrastructure built under a controversial $2 billion resource-for-infrastructure deal with the Chinese conglomerate Sinohydro. Bawumia was eager to claim the inauguration of 441 km of roads in the ...
Chinese Gold Miner in Zimbabwe Faces Labor Abuse Allegations — Again
A Chinese mining company in Zimbabwe is under fire for labor abuses. Workers at Odzi Resources Zimbabwe’s gold mine in the Mutare district accuse managers of violence and say operations often breach local laws.
As China Nitpicks Terms, Asia’s Debt Bomb is Ticking…
As technocrats in Sri Lanka and Laos grapple with renegotiating loans to a variety of creditors, including China, the region's creeping debt distress is slowly tipping into a full-blown humanitarian disaster. The situation is the most critical in Sri Lanka, where ...
Debt Trap or Naivety Trap? China’s Road to Global South Debt Distress
Is China's part in Global South debt the result of 'debt trap' machinations, or over-confidence on Beijing's part? The prominent China-focused economist Michael Pettis recently unpacked this issue in a Twitter thread: I've long argued that what others ...
China-Pakistan Talks on Post-Flood Recovery Start Amid U.S.-China Sniping
China’s Foreign Ministry clapped back at U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s call to Pakistan “to engage China on some of the important issues of debt relief and restructuring so that Pakistan can more quickly recover from the floods.” ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
DRC Government Tries to Reframe Underwhelming Beijing Visit
68 Global South Countries Give China Human Rights Cover at the UN
In what’s becoming a standard tactic, China used its support across the Global South to counter a proposal from a U.S.-led group of rich democracies for a special debate in the UN Human Rights Council on China’s anti-Uyghur measures in Xinjiang. The measure followed