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China Tells U.S. to Restrain Forces Near Shoal in South China Sea

China condemned the U.S. after a naval vessel, USS Higgins, sailed near Scarborough Shoal just days after a China–Philippines at-sea pursuit. Beijing is calling the U.S. move an illegal intrusion and warning Washington to “restrain” its forces. The U.S. Navy ...

South China Sea Naval Collision: Beijing and Manila Trade Blame

China has accused the Philippines of “dangerous maneuvers” during a tense encounter near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea earlier this week that, according to Manila, led to a collision between two Chinese government vessels.  Beijing has not publicly ...

African Countries Should Stop Being Questioned About Their Diplomatic Engagements

No nation should have to defend its right to choose its own diplomatic partners. Yet, in recent years, African countries have increasingly been called to account whenever those partners happen to be China or Russia.  When President William Ruto of Kenya ...

Betting on Beijing: How a Diplomatic Switch Sank Honduras’s Shrimp Exports

In 2023, Honduras severed ties with Taiwan and recognized China, betting that access to one of the world’s largest markets would bring new prosperity. The move was hailed by President Xiomara Castro’s government as a strategic step toward bigger trade deals and deeper economic cooperation. 

‘If You Want to Get Rich, Build a Road.’ Testing China’s Theory in Africa

There's a Chinese proverb that says, “If you want to get rich, build a road first.” That philosophy has guided China's development strategy in Africa for much of the past 25 years, that's led to the construction of more than 100,000km ...

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 ...

CK Hutchison Executive Defends Delay in Panama Ports Deal

A top executive at CK Hutchison on Thursday brushed off the delay in offloading its Panama Canal ports as "not particularly troublesome", as the Hong Kong conglomerate reported its half-year earnings. The firm in March proposed the sale of its global ...

China Offers Help in Thai-Cambodia Row as Ministers Meet

Beijing offered to help Thailand and Cambodia patch up relations on Thursday after their deadliest border clashes in decades, as their foreign ministers met for talks in China. A long-running border row between the Southeast Asian neighbors boiled over into conflict ...

Solomon Islands Says China Not Influencing Diplomatic Decisions

By Ben Strang Solomon Islands defended its move to bar some partners from an influential summit of South Pacific leaders, brushing aside claims on Thursday of a looming split or that China is influencing its decisions.

Iran Says ‘Working With China and Russia’ to Stop European Sanctions

Iran said Thursday it was working with China and Russia to prevent the snapback of European sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program after Britain, France, and Germany threatened to reimpose them. "We will try to prevent it," Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, ...