Day: February 7, 2023

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Debunking Propaganda in the Debate Over “Western Private Creditor” Debt in Africa

In this short piece, I will use statistical data extracted from the World Bank's online database. The figures I will use here are for Africa as a whole, i.e. sub-Saharan Africa (the one most often referred to when talking about "African" debt) and North Africa. Figures are for the ...

China-IMF Spat Over Debt Relief Intensifies Following Fund Chief’s Call for Beijing to Change Its Ways

The war of words between China and Western-led multilateral institutions about developing country debt is escalating. China’s party-owned tabloid Global Times has reacted to a recent CBS 60 Minutes interview with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, in which she said: "China has to change its policies ...

China Confirms It Has a Balloon Floating Somewhere Over Latin America

China’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed Pentagon allegations that a second Chinese surveillance balloon is floating over Central and South America. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said the balloon is non-military and used for flight tests. She said it has limited self-steering capacity and was blown off course, entering South American airspace “by ...

China Updates 2022 Africa Trade Figures

Chinese customs authorities are slowly releasing new trade data for individual African countries following its January announcement that trade with the continent rose by 14.5% to $276.8 billion. Country data is similarly higher than in 2021. China's Trade with Key African Countries: ...

China’s High-Profile Envoy to the DR Congo to Leave This Week

Zhu Jing, China’s outgoing ambassador, is making the rounds of Kinshasa to say goodbye before leaving the country later this week. He is vacating his post as part of a routine rotation. Zhu was a prominent voice for China as the DRC became ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

How to Lure Chinese Financing Back to the Global South: Report

Global South countries face increasing financing pressure, endangering their ability to keep developing while also implementing measures to deal with a growing climate crisis. The disruption of global trade is coupled with a larger megatrend: flows of international capital to the developing world have turned negative. This means that countries are now routinely paying more to service loans than they receive in disbursements.

The vast majority of Global South borrowers ...

Chinese Contractor Completes 105km Railway Upgrade in Namibia

China Gezhouba Group Corp (CGGC) finished a 107.5km upgrade of a rail line between the Namibian harbor Walvis Bay and the central logistics hub of Arandis on time, despite materials shortages and COVID-related delays. The upgrade doubles transport speeds on the line. The ...

African Ambassadors Tour Xinjiang to See “Happy Life of Local Residents”

China’s use of diplomatic junkets to justify its anti-Uyghur measures in Xinjiang to the Global South are ratcheting up again. Ambassadors and other senior diplomats from Senegal, Benin, Mali, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda, Lesotho and Chad visited the region on Thursday. Judging by Global ...

How the U.S. Aims to Compete With China in Critical Resource Mining

U.S. officials are speaking out about the urgency to diversify supply chains for critical resources that are now largely dependent on China, particularly rare earths, cobalt, and lithium that are all essential ingredients in manufacturing electric vehicle batteries. ...