Day: February 14, 2023
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COP28 Ends With Fossil Fuel Compromise, Many Unanswered Questions
This year’s COP28 will likely be remembered for its epic fights about fossil fuel use. For the first time in the gathering’s history, an explicit commitment to “phase out” fossil fuels was on the agenda. The delegates didn’t get there, committing to “transition away” from hydrocarbons instead. ...
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Chinese Mining Companies Are Pushing Down the Price of Cobalt, U.S. Committee Wants to Do Something About It
There's a growing awareness in Washington, D.C., that the rock-bottom prices of certain critical resources used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries provide China a competitive advantage while jeopardizing U.S. national security. A massive glut of cobalt, nickel and other EV battery ...
Chinese Nickel Miners in Indonesia Are Becoming Very Anxious About Falling Prices
The year-long slump in nickel prices is endangering the economic viability of some of the many Chinese mining companies in Indonesia that dominate the sector. Chinese-owned mines account for 60-70% of all investment in Indonesia's nickel mining business, which is significant ...
South Korea Moves to Reduce Reliance on China for EV Battery Metals
The South Korean government introduced new measures this week to reduce its dependence on China for 185 different critical resources, many of which are used to manufacture EV batteries. The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy announced on Wednesday new measures that ...
Chinese Arms Arrive in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially received a consignment of weapons from China on Wednesday. The arms include armored fighting vehicles, personnel carriers, machine guns, and pistols. The weapons were handed over by China’s ambassador, Zhou Ding. While framing the consignment as a donation, Mnangagwa ...
A worker at Sunripe factory in Limuru Town, Kiambu County, Kenya, arranges avocados on August 2, 2022. Image via Xinhua.
There's been a lot of excitement this week in anticipation of tomorrow's start of duty-free access into the Chinese market for 53 African countries. By any measure, this is a big deal, particularly in this new protectionist era when more trade walls are going up then coming down. ...
Iranian President Embarks on Critical Visit to China
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is visiting China for his first state visit and the first by an Iranian president in two decades. Raisi is traveling with a large entourage, including Iran’s central bank chief and its top nuclear negotiator.
Background: Why China-Iran Relations Are a Lot More Complicated Than They Appear
Bill Figueroa is a research associate at the University of Cambridge Centre for Geopolitics and is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost experts on China-Iran relations. The analysis below is copied from a 12-part thread that he published on Twitter and has been lightly edited for ...
FT Reporting Error Sparks Widespread Confusion Over Zambia’s Views on China’s Role in Debt Restructuring Process
Botched reporting in a Financial Times article on Zambian debt made clear how nervous China’s push for the World Bank and other multilateral financers to accept losses as part of debt restructuring is making international stakeholders. In its corrected form, the report quotes ...
FT Report Provokes Strong Response From U.S., UK Analysts Over China’s Duel With Multilateral Development Banks
FT’s claim (subsequently walked back) that the Zambian Finance Minister rejected China’s call to include the World Bank and other multilateral lenders in debt restructuring triggered responses from prominent commentators across Twitter. The reactions give an interesting glimpse into the complications raised ...
China’s Current Challenge of the Bretton Woods Institutions Has Been Years in the Making
China’s dispute with the Bretton Woods institutions dates back to at least the Obama era. The U.S. Congress refused to ratify a 2010 plan to recapitalize the IMF, which would have given large emerging economies enhanced voting rights because it could have affected the U.S.’s veto vote.
Lekki Port Points to New Chinese Infrastructure Model in Africa
As China struggles with the fallout from infrastructure lending, it’s also trying out new ways of financing projects. A fascinating new paper by the prominent Africa-China expert Hong Zhang details a shift from a model where Chinese companies facilitate financing but ...