Day: January 18, 2023
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Saudi Arabia, Iran Reaffirm Support of Chinese-Brokered Détente, Call for Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza
Senior diplomats from Saudi Arabia and Iran returned to Beijing for the first time since the two countries re-established diplomatic ties this year as part of a Chinese-brokered deal unveiled in March. Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Elkhereiji and Iranian Deputy ...
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China’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Stops in Eritrea During Regional Tour
Xue Bing, China's special envoy for the Horn of Africa, traveled to Eritrea on Friday for talks with President Isaias Afwerki. The Chinese envoy arrived in Asmara just after visiting Eritrea's rival Ethiopia, but there's no indication from the readout of Xue's ...
Japan, China Both Court ASEAN Countries as Part of Burgeoning Battle for Influence in Southeast Asia
Both Japan and China held a series of events with senior leaders from the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in recent days as part of a ramped-up effort to increase their respective influence in Southeast Asia.
Marcos Calls for Closer Security Ties with Japan and the U.S. to Counter China in South China Sea
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. acknowledged this weekend that ties with China are deteriorating over the constant confrontations between the two countries in the South China Sea. Marcos said “the South China Sea situation is the most complex geopolitical challenge that the ...
The Chinese Media Narrative About the South China Sea: It’s Everyone Else’s Fault
The emerging Chinese media narrative about the escalating confrontation with the Philippines over territorial disputes in the South China Sea largely blames the United States and other outside "trouble-makers" for manipulating the Philippines to serve as their proxy in this conflict.
Kenya’s Rapidly Devaluing Currency Pushes Up Debt Servicing Costs, Particularly to China
The cost to repay Kenya's dollar-denominated loans is getting more expensive, literally by the day. The National Treasury reported that the plunging value of the shilling since the beginning of the year has increased the cost to service dollar-denominated loans by ...
Report: African Governments Must Do More to Work Together and Enact Radical Transparency to Better Manage Chinese Debt
China is not the largest creditor to African governments but it is certainly one of the most important, particularly because Chinese loans are far more opaque than those from other lenders. Now, in the midst of a burgeoning debt crisis in ...
U.S. Becoming Increasingly Worried About Chinese EV Car Brands Setting Up Factories Across the Border in Mexico
The United States government is becoming nervous about the prospect of Chinese automakers building new factories in Mexico that would afford those new vehicles duty-free access into the U.S. market. MG, BYD and Chery are reportedly all in talks to build ...
Xi’s Speed Diplomacy on the Sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum
Xi Jinping’s presence at the Belt and Road Forum was dominated by his keynote address during which he announced a raft of new initiatives. However, he also engaged in speedy rounds of bilateral meetings and hosted a banquet on Tuesday night. ...
Chinese President Xi Jinping Outlines Next Phase of BRI
China will funnel about $100 billion into its state banks to fund the next phase of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This was one of the announcements during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s keynote presentation at the Belt and Road Forum, during which he outlined expansive plans for ...
The Number of Leaders Attending China’s Belt and Road Forums Has Fallen Steadily
While overall attendance at this year's Belt and Road Forum in Beijing was robust, the participation of heads of state and leaders of international organizations was down dramatically from the first forum in 2017. In fact, so few leaders attended this ...
Kenya’s President Appeals to Chinese Investors to Finance Railway Extension to Ugandan Border
Kenyan President William Ruto issued a direct appeal to Chinese investors to finance the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to the Ugandan border. The president explained that completing this last portion of the railway would unlock significant economic opportunities throughout ...
Ethiopia-China Ties Upgraded
China upgraded its relations with Ethiopia to an “all-weather” strategic partnership. The announcement came after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s meeting with Xi Jinping. The upgrade comes as Ethiopia is slowly emerging from its civil war and recently joined the BRICS group. ...
Argentinian President Leans Into China Ties while Dissent Brews at Home
Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández visited Shanghai ahead of the Belt and Road Forum. He met with Dilma Rousseff, the head of the BRICS-led New Development Bank, as well as leaders of several companies, including Huawei and several large infrastructure companies. Notable was a
The Old Belt & Road is Over, New Era Begins, Says Top China Analyst Richard McGregor
With the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing now wrapped up, some of the world's top China analysts are beginning to reflect on the key themes that emerged at this year's event and what it says about the future of Belt and Road.
Philippines-China Rail Cooperation In Crosshairs as Maritime Tensions Escalate
The Philippines is in a juggling act as tensions with Beijing escalate in the South China Sea but the countries remain engaged in multiple infrastructure projects. The two sides recently updated a Belt and Road deal prioritizing construction of two bridge ...
China’s Dominance of the EV Battery Metal Supply Chain
Chilean President Gabriel Boric oversaw the signing of a $233 million lithium deal on Tuesday with Chinese mining giant Tsingshan Holding Group, the latest investment that solidifies China's dominance of the fiercely contested EV battery metal supply chain.
Days After Meeting Biden, Vietnam PM Calls for Closer Ties With China
Vietnam's legendary skills in managing the burgeoning Great Power rivalry between the U.S. and China were on full display this weekend when, just days after hosting President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính headed across the border for talks with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang.
South China Sea, Infrastructure Top Agenda in China-Malayasia PM Talks
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim met with his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang on Sunday on the sides of the 20th China-ASEAN Expo in the southern Chinese city of Nanning. The two PMs addressed the politically sensitive issue of competing territorial claims ...
Hun Manet Meets With Xi on First Overseas Trip as Cambodian PM
Cambodia's new prime minister, Hun Manet, promised even closer ties with China during a meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday. The newly-named Cambodian leader thanked Xi for China's economic support and said he would deepen cooperation with Beijing's ...
Zambian President Returns Home From Week-Long Visit to China, No Updates on Debt Restructuring Deal
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema returned home this weekend from a week-long trip to China that appeared to be as much about sightseeing as it was about conducting substantive diplomacy. During the last stop of his tour in Beijing on Friday, Hichilema met ...
The Downward Spiral of China-India Relations
There was a glimmer of hope last month that China and India would pull back from their increasingly contentious standoff when military commanders concluded talks along their disputed border on a somewhat optimistic note. The hope was that these talks would ...
Chinese Debt Servicing Costs Surge for Angola and Uganda
Debt servicing costs have been steadily rising across Africa, largely due to the falling value of local currencies that are used to repay dollar-denominated loans. But in Angola and Uganda, interest payments to Chinese creditors have jumped considerably in recent months ...
China’s Share of Nigeria’s Ballooning Debt Remains Steady at Around 4%
Chinese creditors account for just 4.1%, or $4.7 billion, of Nigeria's $114 billion total public debt, according to the latest figures released by the Debt Management Office in Abuja. While China's share is significantly larger than other bilateral creditors, France is ...
Jaishankar: “India is the Only Country in the World Today Standing Eye-to-Eye Against China”
India's top diplomat, S. Jaishankar, pushed back forcefully against accusations Prime Minister Narendra Modi "fears China" saying New Delhi is the only in the world today country that stands "eye-to-eye against China" with more than 70,000 troops now deployed against the PLA along the two countries' disputed ...
Europe Needs a Reality Check to Remain Relevant in a Multipolar World
By Lukas Fiala The recent military coup in Niger was widely interpreted as the latest blow in a series of setbacks for Europe in Africa. After French disengagement yielded space to Russian mercenaries across the Sahel, it’s hard not to see the ...
BRICS Leaders Summit Preview
The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed President Xi Jinping will travel to South Africa to attend the upcoming BRICS summit, the first time he'll visit Africa since 2018. Xi will be joined by three other of the group's leaders along with Russian ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese Contractors Won Nearly a Third of Construction Projects in Africa in 2022, Four Times More Than Western Firms
Chinese contractors won nearly a third of all construction projects in Africa last year, four times more than Western firms, according to a new study by the Hinrich Foundation. These findings mark a sharp reversal from the 1990s when U.S. and European firms won 85% of infrastructure contracts.
Algerian President In China to Push BRICS Membership, Economic Engagement
Algeria’s President Abdelmajid Tebboune is on a state visit to China. The visit, which will occupy most of the week, is seen as an attempt to raise Algeria’s international prominence and diversify its economy. Tebboune, who spent two days in Qatar on the way ...
Yet Another Failed G20 Debt Gathering
A meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads of the G20 group of leading economies produced few results despite increasingly shrill calls for action to help the roughly 50% of developing countries stalked by debt distress. Progress at the ministerial meeting, ...
African and Chinese Scientists Collaborating to Stop Desertification in Vulnerable Countries
The 3rd Taklimakan Summit in Xinjiang last month saw experts from Ethiopia and Nigeria joining specialists and representatives from 14 countries for a series of training and field visit experiences on combating desertification deep in China’s largest arid zone. ...
Why Did Taiwan’s Foxconn Exit Indian Chip Deal? Chinese Columnist Drops Some Gossip
Earlier in July, the Taiwanese contract electronics maker Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest suppliers, announced it was pulling out of a $19.5 billion deal to produce semiconductors in India. The joint venture between Foxconn and the Indian mining and metals firm Vedanta ...
Central Asian Leaders Arrive for China Summit That Could Erode Russian Influence
The leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan have arrived in the ancient Silk Road city of Xi’an for one-on-one meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the first in-person China-Central Asia summit on Friday. Xi is reportedly scheduled to deliver ...
Biden’s Canceled Trip Framed as All About China
U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to cut his Asia-Pacific trip short to deal with debt ceiling negotiations with Republican counterparts is drawing criticism. After attending the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden would have been the first U.S. president to visit Papua New ...
Ghana Gets Debt Breakthrough
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday approved a $3 billion debt bailout deal for Ghana. The debt-distressed country will receive an immediate payment of $600 million. The announcement is a win for China, which co-chaired the official creditor ...
Environmentalists: China Should Invest More in Renewable Energy Rather Than the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
Even as Uganda is seeking $1.8 billion for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), some Ugandan environmentalists are expressing displeasure with China’s involvement with the project. Their frustration stems from reports that China will finance the project. This ...
Q&A: Chinese-Dominated EV Supply Chains in Southeast Asia Grapple With Abuses
Since the 2010s, China has moved swiftly to secure mineral resources around the world to feed its gigantic electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing industry. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China was reported to own 15 of the 17 cobalt operations in the country, producing ...
Backgrounder: China-Australia Iron Ore Fight
The Australian-based company Sundance Resources is suing the China-linked Australia-based AustSino for malpractice and corruption over the Mbalam-Nabeba iron project on the border of Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. The court case has led to eye-popping allegations, including that the dispute ...
China Ready for Israel-Palestine Mediation: Foreign Minister
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Monday spoke by phone to both his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts. This has strengthened impressions that Beijing could be considering a mediator role in one of the Middle East’s most intractable conflicts in the aftermath of its success in de-escalating similarly long-running ...
China’s Economy Rebounds on Back of Increased Trade
China’s economy rebounded in the first quarter of this year, with gross domestic product growing by 4.5%, exceeding expectations. A recovery in retail spending and real estate prices has added to growth, according to new economic figures released on Monday. The 4.5% growth ...
U.S.-China Technology Competition in the Global South
The U.S. and China are waging a hard-fought battle today for dominance of global technology standards, particularly in emerging sectors like 5G mobile telecommunications. While China's access to markets in advanced economies is increasingly limited, tech companies like Huawei, ZTE, and ...
How will China’s New Foreign Minister Shape Foreign Policy? Four Trends to Watch
Qin Gang, China’s incoming Foreign Minister, held his first press conference in early March. Coming during the Communist Party of China’s crucial Two Sessions gatherings, Qin’s debut outing was a high-profile event. It immediately drew attention to his warning that: “If the United States does not ...
India’s External Affairs Minister Heads to Sri Lanka After China Sends Positive Signals on Debt Deal
The Sri Lankan government is now on the verge of closing a deal to secure a $2.9 billion emergency financial package from the International Monetary Fund following new assurances from its two largest bilateral creditors, India and China. Colombo got the desperately ...
The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka Goes on a Furious Twitter Rant to Rebut U.S. Ambassador’s “Spoiler” Accusations
The Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka did not take well to U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung's accusation that China is a potential "spoiler" in the South Asian country's debt restructuring process. The embassy was furious over remarks Chung made in an interview ...
It Won’t Come as a Surprise That Indians Are Skeptical of China, But New Poll Reveals Lots of Ambivalence About the U.S. Too
There's an emerging consensus in U.S. national security circles that bolstering ties with India will be the best way to confront China's surging influence in the Asia-Pacific region. But if that is the case, then it appears U.S. stakeholders have some ...
China’s Ties With India Will be Competitive and Confrontational Says Leading India Scholar
One of China's leading India scholars, Liu Zongyi, a senior fellow at the prestigious Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS), outlined a grim vision for the future of Sino-Indian relations, warning that they'll be contentious, competitive and even confrontational. Liu's outlook ...
Chinese Social Media’s Unusual Response to the Indonesian Labor Riots
Production is up and running again at a Chinese-owned nickel smelting plant in Indonesia following last week's violent uprising by laborers over poor working conditions. Two people, one Chinese and one Indonesian, were killed during the riot.
A Taliban security personnel operating an anti-aircraft gun keeps watch for Pakistani airstrikes near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Nangarhar province on February 27, 2026 following overnight cross-border fighting between the two countries. Photo by AIMAL ZAHIR / AFP
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif declared "open war" against Afghanistan on Friday amid a surge of fighting between the two South Asian neighbors. Pakistan said it's retaliating against Afghanistan for a series of attacks, including a suicide bombing in early February that killed at least 36 people ...
India’s External Affairs Minister Heads to Sri Lanka After China Sends Positive Signals on Debt Deal
The Sri Lankan government is now on the verge of closing a deal to secure a $2.9 billion emergency financial package from the International Monetary Fund following new assurances from its two largest bilateral creditors, India and China. Colombo got the desperately ...
The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka Goes on a Furious Twitter Rant to Rebut U.S. Ambassador’s “Spoiler” Accusations
The Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka did not take well to U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung's accusation that China is a potential "spoiler" in the South Asian country's debt restructuring process. The embassy was furious over remarks Chung made in an interview ...
It Won’t Come as a Surprise That Indians Are Skeptical of China, But New Poll Reveals Lots of Ambivalence About the U.S. Too
There's an emerging consensus in U.S. national security circles that bolstering ties with India will be the best way to confront China's surging influence in the Asia-Pacific region. But if that is the case, then it appears U.S. stakeholders have some ...
China’s Ties With India Will be Competitive and Confrontational Says Leading India Scholar
One of China's leading India scholars, Liu Zongyi, a senior fellow at the prestigious Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS), outlined a grim vision for the future of Sino-Indian relations, warning that they'll be contentious, competitive and even confrontational. Liu's outlook ...
Chinese Social Media’s Unusual Response to the Indonesian Labor Riots
Production is up and running again at a Chinese-owned nickel smelting plant in Indonesia following last week's violent uprising by laborers over poor working conditions. Two people, one Chinese and one Indonesian, were killed during the riot.