Month: October 2022

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The Wider Implications of Europe’s Quest for African Natural Gas”?

It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that one of the most important tools for making it through these times is a capacity for grim amusement.  Without it, one would simply be crushed by something like the recent UN climate reports which correctly pointed ...

Vietnam’s Communist Party Leader Arrives in Beijing, Kicking Off a Busy Week of Chinese Diplomacy

Vietnam's Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong arrived in Beijing on Sunday, kicking off what will be a very busy week of international diplomacy in the Chinese capital. Trong's three-day visit is generating a lot more attention given that he will be the first international ...

Reports: Xi Expected to Travel to Saudi Arabia for December Summits

Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly travel to Saudi Arabia in December to attend a trio of Sino-Arab summits taking place in the Kingdom. The latest rumors about President Xi's purported trip surfaced late last week following the fourth round of talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his ...

China-based Development Bank to Ramp Up Lending by $10 Billion a Year

While China's two major policy banks have pulled hard on the reins to curtail development financing in the Global South, the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is going in the opposite direction. AIIB's President Jin Liqun told the Financial Times that the ...

Two New Huawei-Powered 5G Networks Launch in Africa

Chinese telecom giant Huawei may be encountering severe headwinds in the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia but not so in Africa, where the company launched two new 5G networks in just the past week: SOUTH AFRICA: Partially state-owned ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Plugging into African Agency

After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.

These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still lack ...

How Does Local Agency Fit into Africa-China Negotiations?

In the first of a three-webinar series, the Le Collectif pour le Renouveau Africain (CORA) brought together a group of leading African analysts and scholars to discuss local agency in Africa-China negotiations. The panelists and discussants analyzed the extent of agency exercised by local actors in Chinese-funded infrastructure ...

WEEK IN REVIEW: A Military Stand-off Between a Chinese-Run Mining Company and the DRC’s State-Owned Mining Giant Gécamines Heading to Arbitration

A military stand-off between a Chinese-run mining company and the DRC's state-owned mining giant Gécamines is heading to arbitration.  Congolese army forces took control of two of the Australian-based, Chinese-controlled company MMG's mines in Haute Katanga. After the company's appeals to Congolese authorities went unanswered, MMG is now ...

China’s Foreign Ministry Refutes Kenya Loan Rumors

Wu Peng, the top diplomat for Africa in China’s Foreign Ministry, denied that Kenya missed a payment on its Standard Gauge Railway loan. Wu Peng is the Director-General of African Affairs in the Foreign Ministry. His comment was a rare intervention from the Ministry in a loan controversy.

Kenyan Avocado Exports to China Gather Speed

A 24-ton shipment of Kenyan avocados arrived in China’s Guangzhou harbor this week. It took years for Kenyan producers to clear import protocols, but the shipment shows that China is finally moving forward with its pledge to increase agricultural imports from Africa via so-called ‘green lanes.’ The importer ...

U.S. Plans to Bypass China’s Cobalt Dominance with Arizona Plant

The Singapore-based commodities trader Trafigura announced it will partner with the U.S. battery metals processing firm EVelution to build a battery-grade cobalt sulfate processing facility in Arizona.  The facility is projected to produce 7,000 tons of cobalt sulfate by 2027, an estimated 40% of ...

Taiwanese Troops to Serve in Somaliland

For the first time, the disputed African region of Somaliland will be included in 14 countries and territories that will host Taiwanese soldiers as part of an alternative directive that allows them to do their national military service overseas. Somaliland has been lobbying for independence from Somalia, ...

China’s Messaging to Africa on Xinjiang in Action

The meeting this week between a group of African journalists and Wu Peng, China’s top diplomat to Africa, became an example of how Chinese government officials use direct engagement with reporters as a messaging tool. China has cultivated support in the Global ...
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