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China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Tesla Opens Africa Office, Upping Competition For Chinese Brands

This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EV Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in Summer 2025. Topline Insight Tesla’s Africa expansion through its new Morocco office ...

Looking Beyond Mining in the Africa-China Relationship

Last week’s China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) in Changsha, Hunan province drew very little press attention, but it gave a glimpse of the growing centrality of agricultural trade to the Africa-China relationship. The event delivered 176 new project deals worth $11.39 billion. The number ...

China’s Africa Security Strategy: Training, Arms, and Political Influence

Over the past 25 years, China’s military engagement with Africa has grown dramatically. In 2000, fewer than 5% of African weapons came from China. Today, Chinese-made armored vehicles are used by 70% of African militaries, and China has become the continent’s ...

Cook Islands PM Says China Deals Do Not ‘Compromise’ Sovereignty

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown on Friday defended a string of contentious deals with China, saying they did not "compromise" the Pacific island nation's sovereignty. The agreements prompted major donor New Zealand to halt aid funding to close partner the ...

Japan-U.S.-Philippines Hold Coast Guard Drills With Eye on China

By Andrew McKirdy, with Katie Forster in Tokyo Japan's coast guard will simulate a collision between vessels Friday during joint exercises with the United States and the Philippines seen as a show of unity against Chinese activity in disputed regional waters. ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Revealing Reactions to China’s Festival of Optics

In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...

Europe’s Lithium Quest Hampered by China and Lack of Cash

By Alvaro Villalobos Europe's ambition to be a world player in decarbonised transportation arguably depends on sourcing lithium abroad, especially in South America. Even the bloc's broader energy security and climate goals could depend on ...

Putin to Visit China Starting Aug 31 for Summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China later this year for a regional summit, talks with leader Xi Jinping and commemorations marking 80 years since the end of World War II in Asia, the Kremlin said Thursday. Putin and Xi -- ...