A new report led by the U.S.-based research center AidData is drawing global attention this week. It shows that from 2008 to 2021, China spent $240 billion in bailouts and liquidity support to 22 Global South countries.
Even though the report focuses squarely on economics, it also feels like a key piece of a geopolitical puzzle: how China’s Global South relationships work. As I’m writing this, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is ...
Day: March 6, 2023
Key Foreign Policy Outcomes From the Opening Weekend of China’s Two Sessions
Foreign policy priorities featured more prominently at China's annual legislative gathering that kicked off in Beijing over the weekend than in recent years. The event known as the Two Sessions is a joint convention of China's National People's Congress (NPC) and ...
China Not to Blame for Debt Crisis in Developing Countries, Say a Chorus of Chinese Spokespeople in Beijing
Don't blame us, blame them emerged as a sort of chorus among various Chinese spokespeople in Beijing in recent days. They're all pushing back against accusations that Beijing is the cause of the worsening debt crisis in Africa, Asia and other Global South regions.
China’s New Line on Ghana Debt: We Own Less Than 5%, so Why Are You Talking to Us?
Even though talks between Chinese creditors and the Ghanaian government are now underway in Accra to restructure the country's $1.7 billion of bilateral debt, a narrative that Beijing is delaying the process is taking hold in the Ghanaian media. The problem stems ...
Stand-off Between China and Western Creditors Leading to Unprecedented Delays In Debt Relief for Poor Countries
Just ten years ago, it usually took less than two months for a debt-distressed country to get a sign-off from the International Monetary Fund for emergency financial relief, but that is no longer the case, according to new data compiled by Reuters.
A Call for the African Union to Break the Global South Debt Impasse
Gyude Moore, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, is among a small group of Washington, D.C.-based analysts trying to devise practical solutions for how developing countries can unblock the current impasse preventing debt-distressed countries from restructuring their loans.
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Lending Data Offers Clue to China’s Global South Influence
Chinese Foreign Ministry Releases Details of Qin Gang’s G20 Meetings With Other Foreign Ministers
While stark differences over the war in Ukraine made it impossible for G20 foreign ministers to reach a consensus at last week's meeting in New Delhi, China's Qin Gang nonetheless took advantage of the opportunity to hold a number of bilateral meetings with key counterparts.