Day: February 15, 2024
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China’s Role in Indonesia’s Coal-Powered Industry Poses Challenge to Prabowo’s Green Goals
Indonesia’s energy transition strategy has sparked debate after conflicting statements from top officials about the future of coal power. While President Prabowo Subianto recently announced, at the G20 summit in Brazil, an ambitious plan to cease all coal and fossil fuel ...
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Thailand and the Chinese Import Surge: Possible Policy Responses
By Archanun Kohpaiboon & Prasert Vijithnopparat The surge of imports from China has alarmed many local firms in Thailand. While local businesses have called on the government to impose tariffs on imports, it is more expedient to consider more reasonable measures ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: India, China Patrol Disputed Areas Post-Deal
China firmly rejected the Philippines' maritime claims in the South China Sea on Sunday, posting new territorial boundaries that include the contested Scarborough Shoal. The Foreign Ministry's announcement came two days after President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. signed two laws demarcating Manila's maritime claims. (REUTERS)
Xi Inaugurates South America’s First Chinese-Funded Port in Peru
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday inaugurated Latin America's first Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru -- a symbol of the Asian superpower's growing influence on the continent as it prepares to face off with a new Donald Trump administration. The $3.5-billion ...
U.S. Urges Vigilance on Chinese Investment as Xi Opens Peru Port
The United States on Thursday called on Latin American nations to be vigilant about Chinese investment as President Xi Jinping inaugurated a major port in Peru. Xi, in Peru alongside US President Joe Biden for the APEC summit, was opening the ...
Chinese Lending to Africa is Way More Complicated Than You Think
It's widely believed that Chinese lending to African countries is predominantly done by a few state policy banks, such as the China Exim Bank and the China Development Bank. While that was true in the past, today the situation is far ...
From Lemonade to Stealth Fighters: Zhuhai Airshow and China’s Future as an Arms Exporter
By Lukas Fiala While perhaps not on the radar of some China watchers, this week’s China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition – or Zhuhai Airshow for short – marks an important inflection point in China’s rise as a great power. Taking ...
Attention Falls on India’s Role at SCO Meeting
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar surprised many by announcing his attendance at this year’s SCO gathering. India became a full member of the China-centric organization in 2017, but growing tensions with China over the last few years complicated its presence. Jaishankar’s ...
Security Jitters as Pakistan Hosts SCO Meeting
Pakistan is hosting a two-day heads of government meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) starting today amid heightened security concerns following last week's suicide bombing attack against Chinese workers. Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Islamabad yesterday and was met at the ...
Two Dead in Guinea Protests Against Chinese Mining Firm
At least two people died in clashes with security forces at a protest against a Chinese mining firm in eastern Guinea, Guinea's press agency and a local official said Monday. Saturday's demonstration in Konkoi, close to the Malian border, also left ...
China Insists Won’t Renounce ‘Use of Force’ to Take Taiwan as Drills End
By Amber Wang with Sam Davies in Pingtan China insisted on Monday it would never renounce the "use of force" to take control of Taiwan after ending a day of military drills around the self-ruled island that Beijing said was a ...
China, Russia Pledge to Strengthen Military Cooperation
The Chinese and Russian defense ministers pledged on Monday to deepen cooperation between their two countries' militaries as they met in Beijing. Moscow and Beijing have forged closer ties since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, an alliance that has ...
China Tells Israel ‘Humanitarian Disasters’ in Gaza Must End: State Media
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday told his Israeli counterpart that "humanitarian disasters" in Gaza should end, state media said. "Humanitarian disasters in Gaza should not continue and...countering violence with violence cannot truly address the legitimate concerns of all parties," ...
Pakistan and China Pursue Corridor Dream Despite Financial, Security Risks
By Atika Rehman More than 50 people were killed in late August during multiple attacks in Pakistan’s impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan. Despite extensive infrastructure investments made in the region, mostly through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a decades-long insurgency has only ...
Philippine Ship in Standoff With China Leaves Flashpoint Reef
A Philippine vessel that spent months anchored at a disputed reef in the South China Sea has left the area, the national maritime council said Sunday. The Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Teresa Magbanua had been anchored inside the Sabina Shoal ...
China-Africa Trade Edges Higher in the January-July Period
Trade between China and African countries increased to $167 billion in the January-July period of this year, 5.5% higher than the same period in 2023, according to data from China's General Administration of Customs. Chinese exports to African countries amounted to ...
Kiribati Poll Results Show Pro-China Leader Retains Parliamentary Seat
Kiribati's pro-China president retained his parliamentary seat in a landslide, according to the first results on Thursday of an election that hinged on worries about the cost of living, rising sea levels, and closer ties with Beijing. Results posted by the ...
China Says Vietnam President to Lam to Make 3-Day Visit
China said Vietnamese President To Lam will visit for three days from Sunday, in his first overseas trip since he was formally named his country's top leader. "Vietnamese President To Lam will pay a state visit to China from August 18 ...
Myanmar Junta Chief, China FM Discuss ‘Stability’ as Clashes Rage
Myanmar's embattled junta chief and China's foreign minister on Wednesday discussed security along their shared border, where ethnic minority armed groups have captured territory from the Myanmar military in recent weeks, junta media said. China is a major ally and arms ...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio Wants to Use Massive Tariffs to Unseat China’s Dominance in Critical Resources
U.S. Senator and Republican party vice presidential hopeful Marco Rubio submitted legislation this month that aims to break China's current control of critical mineral supply chains with punishing tariffs up to 800%. Rubio's Critical Mineral Supply Chain Realignment Act of 2024 calls ...
New Chinese Trade Data Reveals Growing Importance of Global South Amid Mounting Tensions With U.S., EU
China registered a record $99 billion trade surplus in June, adding to concerns that Beijing is leaning on exports to try and pull itself out of an economic slump. While the flood of low-cost Chinese-made products is good news for consumers, ...
China, Russia Conduct Joint Pacific Military Patrol
China and Russia conducted a joint naval patrol in the northern and western Pacific, Beijing's defense ministry said Sunday. The ministry added that the exercise was not "targeted" at any other nation. The two countries have drawn closer in recent years ...
Biden’s Sanctions on Chinese EVs Highlights Stark Divide Between U.S. and Global South
While the U.S. government moved aggressively on Tuesday to install massive new barriers intended to prevent Chinese electric vehicles from entering its market, Mexico, coincidentally on the same day, went entirely in the opposite direction — welcoming the launch of EV giant BYD's first-ever mid-size hybrid pick-up ...
Developing Countries That Export Critical Resources Could be Collateral Damage in the U.S.-China Trade War
The $18 billion of Chinese products targeted by the U.S. for increased tariffs will not have a measurable impact on a trade relationship worth more than $600 billion annually. But that's not the case for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ...
Senior U.S. Diplomat Accuses Chinese Company of “Predatory” Tactics to Depress Cobalt Prices
The top U.S. diplomat for energy and the environment, Jose Fernandez, accused Chinese mining giant CMOC of using "predatory" practices to intentionally flood the market with cobalt to suppress prices: “What we’re seeing now, I feel, is a variation of predatory pricing ...
Philippine Civilian Convoy Sails Towards Disputed Reef
By Faith Brown Civilians on board Philippine fishing boats sailed Wednesday towards a China-controlled reef off the Southeast Asian country, handing out aid to Filipino fishermen and dropping buoys to assert their rights to the disputed waterway.
China Expresses ‘Deep Concern’ Over Iran Attack on Israel
Beijing expressed “deep concern” on Sunday over Iran’s missile and drone attack on Israel, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said. Iran on Saturday launched more than 200 drones and missiles at Israel in an unprecedented attack, the Israeli army announced, in a ...
Dissecting China’s Response to Iran’s Drone Attack on Israel
China's rather subdued response to Iran's weekend attack on Israel is loaded with strategic complexity. William Figueroa, an assistant professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and one of the world's foremost scholars on Sino-Iran relations, posted a multi-part ...
Scholar’s Comments Hint That China May Not Have Expected Iran to Strike Israel
One of China's leading foreign policy scholars appeared on national TV last week and firmly declared that Iran would not launch a direct strike on Israel in response to Israel's bombing of the Iranian embassy in Syria. Dong Manyuan, a senior ...
Chinese, Vietnamese Defense Ministers Agree to Set up Naval Hotline
China's new defense minister, Dong Jun, wrapped up a two-day visit to Vietnam on Friday, his first trip overseas since taking office, during which he held talks with Vietnam's Defense Minister, Phan Văn Giang. The two met on Thursday and Friday
With New Oil Deal, China Holds Steady in Niger While Western Powers Withdraw
Niger signed a $400 million MoU with Chinese state-owned oil giant China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) for the sale of crude oil from the country’s Agadem oilfield. Following the launch of a pipeline project in November backed by PetroChina, the publicly-listed arm ...
Opposition Figurehead Decries China’s ‘Alarming’ Sway in Solomon Islands
China's growing hold over Pacific nation Solomon Islands is "alarming", a powerful opposition figurehead told AFP Monday ahead of elections that could further entrench Beijing's foothold in the region. Solomon Islands has warmly embraced China under mercurial Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, ...
Chinese Embassy Denounces U.S. General’s Remarks on Chinese Space Exploration Station in Argentina
The Chinese Embassy in Argentina strongly condemned a U.S. general’s remarks on a Chinese space exploration station in the country. Following Javier Milei's election as president of Argentina in December, the Chinese-built space exploration station in the Andes Mountains has become ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. To Meet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Next Tuesday
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken next Tuesday to discuss the escalating tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea. Separately, a summit with Marcos and the leaders of Japan and the U.S. is in the final planning stage and ...
Does China Own the Future?
The FT columnist Gillian Tett argued this week that global markets are revealing an interesting paradox: on the one, hand, rising stock prices show that investors are feeling somewhat more optimistic about the future. On the other, gold and bitcoin (both seen as hedges against losses and volatility) ...
U.S., Philippines Increase Naval Presence in Western Pacific to “Safeguard Maritime Interests”
There will be be a lot more naval hardware soon in the Western Pacific as both the Philippines and the United States ramp up their deployments as part of a larger effort to confront China's growing presence in the region.
UK Foreign Secretary Cameron to Pressure China Over Red Sea Attacks
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron is the latest Western politician who apparently feels he can persuade China to use its influence to rein in Iran-backed Houthi militants attacking cargo vessels in the Red Sea. Cameron said he is going to ...
U.S., Canada Look to Wean Themselves Off Dependence on China for Critical Minerals
Energy ministers from the United States and Canada expressed deep reservations about their countries' current reliance on China for processed minerals that are used to power next-generation mobility and technologies. In separate interviews, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Canada's Minister ...
Prabowo Subianto Set to Win Indonesia Presidency, Relations With China, U.S. Expected to Remain Stable
The clouds still hadn’t left the sky on Wednesday morning in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta, where millions were preparing to elect their new president and vice president. Parts of the city were flooded due to heavy rains on the previous night, causing some polling stations to ...
Wang Yi Kicks Off Africa Tour in Egypt, Red Sea Security Tops Agenda
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Cairo, the first stop in a week-long, four-nation Africa tour. Wang held separate talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi along with his counterpart Sameh Shoukry where the war in Gaza and the escalating tensions in ...
China Blames U.S., UK Attacks on Yemen for Worsening Red Sea Crisis
China's ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, accused the United States and Britain of inflicting unnecessary casualties and infrastructure damage in their recent strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. Zhang spoke out at an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting ...
Ethiopian Coast Deal Reunite China and Somalia
China expressed support for the government of Somalia amid a controversy about a deal between Ethiopia and Somaliland, which Mogadishu views as a breakaway province. In early January, the governments of Ethiopia and Somaliland announced they signed a memorandum of understanding that ...
China Hits Back at Germany’s South China Sea Criticisms
China is lashing back at what it sees as Germany’s meddling in Beijing’s regional conflicts in the South China Sea. The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, visited Manila last week and criticized what she called China’s aggression against Philippine forces in maritime ...
Indonesian and Vietnamese Leaders Discuss South China Sea
Indonesian President Joko Widodo met with Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong in Hanoi on Friday as part of Widodo’s tour of the region, which also included visits to the Philippines and Brunei. Maritime security and a possible code of conduct for ...
U.S. Promotes Cross-Honduras Rail Project Previously Shopped to China
A $20 billion rail project that would connect Honduras' Pacific and Caribbean coasts is drawing interest from the United States. Scott Hansen, an economic counselor at the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa, reportedly presented the project to possible investors last week. The project ...
France’s Trade Minister Dismisses Chinese Competition in Africa
Olivier Becht, France’s Minister of Foreign Trade pushed back against claims that France is being “chased out” of Africa. In an interview with Africa Report conducted late last year, Becht said the presence of French companies is actually increasing in Africa.
Lack of Political Will in Ghana Fuels Illegal Rosewood Logging, Smuggling to China
Such is the desire for rosewood that it’s the world’s most trafficked wild product —more than ivory, rhino horn, and pangolin scales combined.
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 ...
U.S., Philippines Increase Naval Presence in Western Pacific to “Safeguard Maritime Interests”
There will be be a lot more naval hardware soon in the Western Pacific as both the Philippines and the United States ramp up their deployments as part of a larger effort to confront China's growing presence in the region.
UK Foreign Secretary Cameron to Pressure China Over Red Sea Attacks
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron is the latest Western politician who apparently feels he can persuade China to use its influence to rein in Iran-backed Houthi militants attacking cargo vessels in the Red Sea. Cameron said he is going to ...
U.S., Canada Look to Wean Themselves Off Dependence on China for Critical Minerals
Energy ministers from the United States and Canada expressed deep reservations about their countries' current reliance on China for processed minerals that are used to power next-generation mobility and technologies. In separate interviews, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Canada's Minister ...
Prabowo Subianto Set to Win Indonesia Presidency, Relations With China, U.S. Expected to Remain Stable
The clouds still hadn’t left the sky on Wednesday morning in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta, where millions were preparing to elect their new president and vice president. Parts of the city were flooded due to heavy rains on the previous night, causing some polling stations to ...