Month: March 2025
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Trump Returns, But His Africa Policy Remains a Question Mark
The cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom in Washington, D.C., but inside the Beltway, there’s little sign of renewal—only a thick fog of uncertainty. After a brief return to D.C., I found a city still reeling from the shock of the Trump administration’s return to power and ...
How the United States’ Diplomatic Pullback in Africa Creates New Openings for China
As the United States continues its efforts to counter China’s growing influence across the Global South, recent budget cuts from the Trump administration—and the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk—have delivered a major blow to USAID and now threaten American diplomacy more broadly. ...
China’s Xi Warns Foreign Executives of ‘Severe’ Trade Headwinds
By Isabel Kua and Peter Catterall Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday warned of "severe challenges" to global trade, vowing to open the country's door "wider and wider" to foreign firms as Beijing faces down a mounting trade war with the ...
Seoul Announces Rare Top Trade Meeting With Tokyo, Beijing
Top trade officials from South Korea, Japan, and China will meet this weekend in Seoul to discuss economic cooperation, a South Korean government source said Friday. The rare meeting—the first in five years—was announced days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced ...
Documenting the Human Cost of Nickel Mining: CGSP Wins Top Photojournalism Prize
The China-Global South Project (CGSP) has won the 2025 World Press Photo Award for a striking photo essay exposing the human cost of Indonesia’s nickel boom. The winning image, taken by Indonesian photojournalist Mas Agung Wilis Yudha Baskoro, captures ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: DRC Considers Extending Cobalt Export Ban as Prices Soar
The Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD reportedly plans to double its annual sales outside of China to more than 800,000 cars in 2025. The company’s chairperson, Wang Chuanfu, said it plans to evade tariffs by expanding local assembling and that it sees “great opportunities” in Latin America and ...
South Africa’s Active Yet Unequal Trade With China
From afar, the China-South Africa trade relationship looks amazing. Last year, the two countries sold more than $52 billion worth of goods to one another — mostly raw materials from South Africa and finished goods from China.
China’s Xi Meets Bangladesh Leader Yunus in Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping met Bangladesh leader Muhammad Yunus in Beijing on Friday, state media reported, as Dhaka's frosty relations with neighboring India spur the administration to court new friends. Yunus took charge of Bangladesh last August after the toppling of ...
U.S. Defense Chief Visits Philippines Dogged by Scandal at Home
By Chad WILLIAMS U.S. defense chief, Pete Hegseth, will meet his Philippine counterpart in Manila on Friday, as part of a tour of Pacific allies that risks being overshadowed by a mounting scandal over leaked plans for military strikes.
Trend Tracker: China’s AI Outreach to the Global South
The Chinese company DeepSeek’s success in building a world-leading artificial intelligence system on inexpensive chips isn’t only shifting tech conversations. AI is an increasingly common theme in China’s wider outreach to the Global South. This week, a Xinhua op-ed framed AI ...
U.S. Fentanyl Pressure Expands from China to India
A new U.S. intelligence report named both China and India as “state actors” involved in supplying precursor chemicals used to make the illegal drug fentanyl. "China remains the primary source country for illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals and pill pressing equipment, followed ...
China Increasing Pressure on Panama Ports Deal
The Chinese authorities are reportedly telling state-owned enterprises to pause new business with companies linked to Li Ka-Shing and his family, the latest signal that Beijing is unhappy with the decision by Li’s CK Hutchison Holdings to sell two strategic ports in Panama to a U.S. consortium—part of ...