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China Is Playing the Long Game in the Middle East: Analysts

China was one of 121 countries that voted for a UN General Assembly resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza on Friday. The vote positioned it against Israel and its key ally, the U.S. Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the UN,  accused the countries voting for the ...

China Meets with Iran and Saudi Arabia Amid Israel Crisis

Chinese delegates recently spoke with key allies to discuss the spiraling crisis in the Middle East. Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhberon on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday. It was the first meeting since the fighting in Israel ...

Marooned Filipino Ship Becomes Center of South China Sea Flashpoint

The deterioration of an aging Filipino ship grounded in the South China Sea is becoming the center of an already concerning global flashpoint between China, the Philippines, and the U.S. No one knows just how fast the BRP Sierra Madre is falling ...

Multilateral Support for the Philippines Could Alter Course of Conflict With Beijing in South China Sea

If conflict were to break out in the South China Sea, the Philippines faces a much larger and more sophisticated military in China, which now has the world’s biggest naval fleet. That has put a growing focus on support Manila might ...

Philippines Drops Railway Funding Request from China Amid South China Sea Disputes

The Philippines is dropping its request for Chinese loans to fund three railway projects totaling more than $5 billion. The decision comes as recent tensions between the two countries in the South China Sea have hit fever pitch. Manila, which said ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Plugging into African Agency

After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...

Philippines Says Factions Within Its Country Echoing ‘Pro-Beijing’ Narratives

The Philippines has long been critical of what it deems China’s misinformation campaigns around increasingly contentious issues such as South China Sea disputes. But now Manila says there is a “small but vocal group of Filipinos echoing pro-Beijing narratives” as well. ...

Chinese Scholar Reveals Misgivings in Beijing About Pakistan Trade Corridor

Pakistan and China frequently refer to themselves as “iron brothers” and the relationship is an important building block in China’s bulwarks against the U.S. and India. Central to this relationship is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key Belt and Road ...

Zimbabwe Newest Recipient of China’s Building Diplomacy

China on Thursday formally handed over Zimbabwe’s new $100 million parliament building. The six-floor, 33,000-square-meter complex was fully funded by the Chinese government and framed as “a gift to the people of Zimbabwe.” This use of buildings as a form of ...