Day: September 26, 2023
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Clash in UN Security Council as Two Israel Resolutions Voted Down
China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-led UN Security Council resolution calling for pauses in the Gaza conflict to allow more humanitarian assistance to enter the blockaded region. The main reason for the veto was reportedly that it didn’t include a call for a ceasefire. The U.S. currently ...
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Saudi Arabia Offers to Mediate Between China and the U.S.
Saudi Arabia is willing to help improve the relationship between the superpowers. Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said during a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh: “If there are opportunities that we can make the relationship between U.S. and China better, we will. We enjoy a ...
Biden Says Pact With Philippines “Ironclad” While Asserting China Aggression in South China Sea
U.S. President Joe Biden called China’s action towards the Philipines in the South China Sea “dangerous” and “unlawful” and said any attack would result in U.S. involvement. “The United States defense commitment to the Philippines is ironclad. Any attack on Filipino ...
Philippines Eyes Multilateral Approach Against China in South China Sea
The Philippines will increase multilateral activities, including freedom of navigation transits in the South China Sea and hopes more partners will "join our fight" after multiple recent run-ins with Chinese maritime forces. China’s recent maneuvers "could result in more willing nations to ...
Views From Manila on China-Philippines Confrontations in South China Sea
The recent confrontations between Chinese and Filipino vessels in the South China Sea are prompting significant commentary in the Philippines media, where it appears that public opinion toward China is hardening. Commentators have taken a distinct tough line on the relationship, accepting that it’s going to be ...
South China Sea Conference Wraps Up in Vietnam With High-Level Speakers From China and Other Countries
The two-day 15th Annual South China Sea International Conference concluded Thursday in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, hosting speakers from dozens of countries, including China. The event took place on the heels of multiple confrontations in the South China Sea between Chinese ...
EU’s Global Gateway Moves Forward on DRC-Angola Corridor in Bid to Counter China
The European Union and the United States will launch the early stages of a logistics corridor linking the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to an export facility in Angola. This was one of the key announcements on the second day of ...
Assessing the Impact of Chinese Media Influence in Africa
China's media presence in Africa is far more pervasive today than it was a decade ago, but not in the conventional way. Very few people consume China's traditional media offerings on the continent but millions, often unaware, engage with Chinese-produced messaging ...
Chinese Company Exports Illegal Timber Worth Millions from DRC Despite Ban: Report
Congo King Baisheng Forestry Development, a Chinese-owned timber company, exported $5 million worth of illegally logged timber in the first six months of 2023 alone, according to a new report by Global Witness. The NGO used satellite imagery to show that the company kept logging in the ...
Morocco Looks at Its Relations with China: Between the Earthquake and the Diplomatic Celebrations
By Mariateresa Natuzzi and Léa Gebuhrer In this issue of the ChinaMed Observer, we take stock of Sino-Moroccan relations as the two countries prepare to commemorate the 65th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this November 1st. We examine recent trends in Moroccan press ...
Philippine Coastguard Removes Chinese South China Sea Barrier
The Philippine coastguard successfully removed a 300-meter floating barrier placed by the Chinese coastguard to bar access to the South China Sea’s Scarborough Shoal. This follows an outcry in Manila during the weekend when images emerged of the barrier and Chinese coastguard patrols ...
U.S. Charm Offensive to Pacific Island States Amid China Worries
A summit between the United States and the Pacific Islands Forum that started in Washington on Monday is the newest signal that Washington plans to increase its presence in the region in response to China’s growing influence there. The leaders were ferried ...
China Reacts to U.S.-Vietnam Arms Talks
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin commented on a report this weekend that the United States is in talks with Vietnam about a massive arms deal. Wang’s response was measured: Asian countries share a desire for stability, cooperation and development. We hope that when ...
Mangrove Conservation Can Protect Thailand From Sino-Thai BRI’s Ecological Impacts
Sino-Thai economic cooperation has been expanding in the last decade, propelled by the nation’s ambition to boost economic growth and by China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) projects. However, the model has been known for continuous building without paying much attention to the coastal ecosystems, including mangroves. The condition ...
How China’s Economic Slowdown Impacts Developing Countries
The Chinese economy is in trouble. Exports, manufacturing output, and investment are all down. Unemployment, particularly among young people is up. Provincial debt is now at a record $8 trillion while a burgeoning property crisis has eliminated a once reliable source ...
Decoding Qin Gang’s Demotion: “He’s Either Dying or Under Discipline”
One month after Qin Gang made his last public appearance as foreign minister, China's top legislative body removed him from the post on Tuesday and re-appointed the country's most senior foreign policy official Wang Yi to the position. Despite rampant speculation over ...
Türkiye’s Parliament Rejects Special Committee to Investigate Uyghur Human Rights Ahead of Wang Visit
The Turkish Parliament's Human Rights Committee blocked a plan to create a new sub-committee to investigate allegations of human rights violations of China's minority Uyghur population in Xinjiang. Instead, lawmakers opted to assign the issue to an existing sub-committee focused on ...
Kenya’s Debt-Servicing Costs Edge Higher Amid Street Protests and Heightened Uncertainty
Kenya spent 59% of all the money it collects in taxes to service the country's ballooning debt, a slight increase from the previous fiscal year. The news adds further pressure on President William Ruto, who slashed subsidies and increased taxes in ...
Corruption and Mismanagement at the Root of Kenya’s Debt Crisis, Not Chinese Loans, Say Policymakers
Critics of Chinese lending practices in developing countries often point to Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) as the prime example of Beijing's aggressive tactics that underlie the "debt trap" accusation. But in Kenya, they're telling a very different story about how ...
Heard About Those Escrow Accounts Used to Secure Chinese Loans in Africa? Here’s What They Look Like in Action
There's been a lot of discussion in recent years about how Chinese lenders required high-risk borrowers in Africa and other developing countries to put large pools of money in offshore escrow accounts as a kind of insurance measure that guaranteed the creditor would be repaid. ...
How Chinese Construction Giant Sinohydro Benefits From Sanctions and Power Shortages in Zimbabwe
Sanctioned and isolated by the West, Zimbabwe’s economy has taken a beating for more than two decades, but in that period, some Chinese companies have stuck it out and become favorites, winning contracts for big-ticket projects.
Welcome to the New Era Where China Writes the Rules
Everyone's hailing the Zambian debt restructuring agreement that was unveiled on Friday in Paris as a major breakthrough in debt relief for the world's poorest countries. While we don't have a lot of information about what's specifically stipulated in the deal, ...
Zambia’s Landmark Debt Deal Highlights China’s Success in Setting New Rules for Development Finance
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema looked visibly relieved following Friday's announcement that the country's creditor committee had finally reached an agreement to restructure $6.3 billion of bilateral external debt. The deal that took more than two years to finalize was unveiled by ...
Investors Cautiously Optimistic About Zambia Debt Deal, But Still Wary About China’s Role
Investors welcomed the news of Zambia's debt restructuring deal with a mini rally on Friday in the country's dollar-denominated bonds. Government bonds from Ghana, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also saw similar bumps prompted by new optimism their debt restructurings will follow Zambia's example.
Chinese Media Noticeably Quiet on Zambian Debt Deal
Most major financial news outlets in the U.S. and Europe featured prominent coverage of Friday's landmark Zambian debt restructuring deal but the story was barely mentioned in China. The official state-run Xinhua news agency published a short summary of the announcement but, ...
Hichilema Refutes Western Accusations China Was to Blame for Delays in Zambia’s Debt Restructuring
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema rejected longstanding accusations by Western governments and institutions that China was to blame for how long it took to reach a debt restructuring agreement. The president told Bloomberg TV after the deal was announced on Friday in ...
Vietnam PM Arrives in China for Visit as a U.S. Aircraft Carrier Arrives
Vietnam's legendary great power hedging strategy was on full display this weekend when the massive U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan arrived in the central city of Da Nang for a rare port of call -- in fact, only the third time that a U.S. aircraft carrier has docked ...
U.S. Insists Modi’s Visit Wasn’t About China… Except That It Was
The United States rejected suggestions that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three day visit to the United States last week was about leveraging New Delhi in Washington's rivalry against China. Although China was on the agenda in talks between Modi and ...
How China Is Moving up the Ranks in the Global Arms Market
By Lukas Fiala The label ‘Made in China’ has long epitomized China’s prominence in global manufacturing. From primary materials to advanced consumer goods, China’s rapid economic rise has been undergirded by the country’s insertion into global value chains since the 1980s ...
[WEEK IN REVIEW] Chinese Hacking in Kenya & DRC President Goes to Beijing
This week CGSP Francophone Africa Editor Geraud Neema joins Eric & Cobus to discuss DR Congo President Félix Tshiskedi's state visit to China which comes at a critical time for the Congolese leader. Tshisekedi is going to pressure his Chinese hosts ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: Official Navigation Beacons Placed Close to Contested Spratly Islands in South China Sea
China’s Transport Ministry confirmed that three official navigation beacons have been placed close to the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. This follows a similar positioning by the Philippines as the countries pursue competing claims to the island group. Meanwhile, a Chinese naval vessel is on ...
China’s Role in Kenya’s Unfolding Economic Calamity
There's growing speculation among international investors that Kenya is now poised to become the next African country to default on its debt. The markets worry about how Kenya will remain solvent in the face of three converging trends that are making ...
Africa’s Debt-fueled Infrastructure Binge Will Not Generate Economic Growth, Says Prominent Kenyan Scholar
Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia are among a number of African countries that borrowed billions of dollars over the past twenty years to build massive infrastructure projects that policymakers in those countries all thought would help grow their economies. That didn't happen ...
New Boston University Report Challenges Chinese Debt Trap Meme That’s Still Popular With U.S. Government Officials
Researchers at Boston University's Global Development Policy Center did not mince words in a report published this week, in which they stated that "debt trap diplomacy is not a driver of Chinese lending and overseas development finance." For anyone who follows ...
Hundreds of Chinese Evacuated From Sudan
More than 400 Chinese nationals were evacuated from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Tuesday and taken by bus to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the majority of its people in Sudan have ...
Nigeria to Finance Major Pipeline After Chinese Funding Falls Through
The Nigerian government will pick up the tab to build the last portion of the 614-kilometer AKK natural gas pipeline that China had originally agreed to finance. In 2017, the Bank of China negotiated a deal to fund the $2.5 billion project ...
TotalEnergies Signs Deal With Chinese Contractor for Controversial Africa Pipeline Work
French energy giant TotalEnergies concluded a deal with China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering and East Africa Oil Pipeline operator EACOP to build the environmentally controversial pipeline in East Africa. The Chinese company will replace a Russian pipe supplier to provide some of ...
Egypt’s Chinese Green Hydrogen Project Could be a Blueprint for Africa
Egypt and China are seeking to consolidate economic and investment cooperation in various areas of common interest, including clean energy through the China hydrogen project. The China International Energy Group (CIEG) intends to establish a $5 to $8 billion project ...
Lula Pitches South American Trade Pact With China in Bid to Save Mercosur
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for a South American regional trade agreement with China as part of a desperate bid to save the embattled Mercosur bloc. Lula proposed the idea during a speech on Wednesday in the Uruguayan capital of ...
It’s Been a Big Week for Chinese Infrastructure Development in Africa
Two U.S. cabinet secretaries are currently touring Africa to fulfill President Joe Biden's promise that the United States is "all in" when it comes to bolstering ties with countries across the continent. A key part of the message that Treasury Secretary Janet ...
Hard to Believe But Huawei’s Still Got a Smartphone Business in South Africa
Even though Huawei's mobile phone business is just a fraction of the size it was before the U.S. slapped crippling sanctions on the company, blocking it from using Google and other American technology, South African consumers are still keen to buy the Chinese tech giant's devices.
China’s Ambassador to the DR Congo to Leave
Chinese ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo stopped by the Defense Ministry in Kinshasa this week to say goodbye to Minister Gilbert Kabanda. Zhu also left a parting gift of $27 million of security assistance for the Congolese military. ...
Massive New Chinese-financed Cultural Center Takes Shape in Kinshasa
Three years after Chinese contractors broke ground to build the new Central African Cultural and Arts Center in the DR Congo capital of Kinshasa, the 36,000-square-meter development is now taking shape. Outgoing Chinese ambassador to the DRC, Zhu Jing, posted an update on Twitter about ...
Countries in Asia and the Americas Account For Half of China’s Total Auto Exports
China is on the verge of displacing Germany to become the world's second-largest auto exporting nation (Japan is #1). This is a remarkable accomplishment given the speed that China's automakers have gained international market share, tripling sales to 2.5 million units since 2020.
File image of an artisanal miner carrying raw ore at Tilwizembe, a former industrial copper-cobalt mine, outside of Kolwezi, the capital city of Lualaba Province in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. REUTERS/Kenny Katombe/File Photo
By Maxwell Akalaare Adombila and Ange Kasongo The U.S. has made progress in its push to prise Congo's strategic minerals from China's orbit, but conflict, contested licences and compliance demands are still slowing Washington's advance into a region its rival dominates, diplomats and ...
Philippine Coastguard Removes Chinese South China Sea Barrier
The Philippine coastguard successfully removed a 300-meter floating barrier placed by the Chinese coastguard to bar access to the South China Sea’s Scarborough Shoal. This follows an outcry in Manila during the weekend when images emerged of the barrier and Chinese coastguard patrols ...
U.S. Charm Offensive to Pacific Island States Amid China Worries
A summit between the United States and the Pacific Islands Forum that started in Washington on Monday is the newest signal that Washington plans to increase its presence in the region in response to China’s growing influence there. The leaders were ferried ...
China Reacts to U.S.-Vietnam Arms Talks
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin commented on a report this weekend that the United States is in talks with Vietnam about a massive arms deal. Wang’s response was measured: Asian countries share a desire for stability, cooperation and development. We hope that when ...
Mangrove Conservation Can Protect Thailand From Sino-Thai BRI’s Ecological Impacts
Sino-Thai economic cooperation has been expanding in the last decade, propelled by the nation’s ambition to boost economic growth and by China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) projects. However, the model has been known for continuous building without paying much attention to the coastal ecosystems, including mangroves. The condition ...
How China’s Economic Slowdown Impacts Developing Countries
The Chinese economy is in trouble. Exports, manufacturing output, and investment are all down. Unemployment, particularly among young people is up. Provincial debt is now at a record $8 trillion while a burgeoning property crisis has eliminated a once reliable source ...