Day: August 25, 2025
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2025 China-Africa Year in Review
In this special year-end edition of The China in Africa Podcast, Eric, Cobus, and Géraud look back on the top stories of 2025 and look ahead to the key trend to watch in 2026. 📌 ...
Related Posts
China’s Long Bet on Sudanese Oil Comes to an End
China and Sudan’s three-decade-long “oil diplomacy” has completely collapsed, a Chinese think tank said, after the leading state-owned oil firm China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) officially withdrew from its final complex in the African oil-rich but war-torn nation. The think tank ...
South Africa and China Launch Joint African Modernization Initiative
South Africa and China announced a new joint initiative aimed at boosting African modernization. The initiative was announced on Sunday during the closing of the G20 summit in Johannesburg. The text of the announcement emphasizes that the initiative will harmonize with ...
Thailand Suspends Prison Boss Over Alleged Privileges for Chinese Inmates
Thai authorities have suspended a prison chief in Bangkok over allegations that high-profile Chinese inmates were granted access to women in a private cell and other privileges, the justice ministry said. The scandal erupted last week after local media reported two ...
China Amasses 30 Ships in South China Sea Near the Philippines
China amassed 30 naval and coast guard ships around several Philippine-claimed features in the South China Sea, the Philippine Navy said Tuesday. Manila says it’s one of the heaviest Chinese shows of force in waters the Philippines considers its ...
China Customs Gap Hints at Iranian Crude Oil Labeled as Indonesian
China is importing much more crude oil declared as Indonesian than Indonesia says it is exporting, customs data from both countries show. Chinese customs figures released this week show 9,81 million metric tons of crude listed as coming from Indonesia ...
WeChat Pay Starts Using China’s Unified QR for Foreign Wallets
WeChat Pay’s international arm, Tenpay Global, is now integrated into China’s unified QR payment gateway, which has begun handling live cross-border traffic from overseas wallets. Regulators say the shift lets them see far more of the overseas wallet traffic moving ...
How China Uses Parliamentary Buildings to Build Influence in Africa
China has funded, designed, and built more than 200 government buildings across Africa, including the headquarters of the African Union and Ecowas, foreign ministry annexes in Ghana and Kenya, and at least 15 national parliaments. ...
With Washington Absent, China Seizes the Stage at G20 in Johannesburg
Chinese Premier Li Qiang was very busy at this weekend's G20 summit in Johannesburg, where he seemed at ease that Donald Trump and the U.S. delegation stayed home, for the most part. There's no doubt that had Trump been there, the ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: China Secures Soybeans from Argentina, Snubs U.S. Exports
Chinese traders are rapidly increasing their orders of Argentinian soybeans, following the country’s temporary suspension of export taxes. Since the tax holiday was announced on Monday, at least twenty ship cargoes (about 1.3 million tons) have been booked. The orders include both crops to be shipped in November ...
Chinese EV Giant Reenters South African Market
The Chinese car company Geely has announced it will return to South Africa, about a decade after it withdrew from the market. It has reportedly secured 35 dealerships around the country, aiming for 40 before its official launch. South Africa’s ...
Spike in Chinese Oil Imports from Indonesia Sparks Iran Rumors
A surge in oil imports from Indonesia to China over the last two months has sparked allegations that China may be importing sanctioned Iranian oil via the Southeast Asian country. Since July, China has imported 2.7 million tons of crude oil ...
China Announces New Climate Goals
China’s President Xi Jinping announced a new set of climate goals at Wednesday’s UN General Assembly meeting. The announcement comes a day after his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, dismissed climate change, calling it the "greatest con job ever perpetrated on ...
China Tests Zimbabwe’s Lithium Ambitions With $400 Million Huayou Cobalt Plant
Chinese mining and battery giant Huayou Cobalt is close to completing a $400 million lithium sulphate processing plant in Zimbabwe, the first of its kind on the continent, underscoring its commitment to supporting the country’s efforts to climb the global battery supply chain.
Famed ‘Sponge Cities’ Chinese Architect Dead in Brazil Plane Crash
Chinese landscape architect Yu Kongjian, known for his so-called nature-mimicking "sponge cities," has died in a small plane crash in Brazil with two filmmakers documenting his work, police said Wednesday. The 62-year-old was considered a leading figure in sustainable urban planning; ...
China Leads Influence in Southeast Asia, but Neighbors Come First
China leads the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Influence Index by a point, 65 to 64 over the United States on the latest reading, but the study finds neighbors are more important than any external power, including China. However, Lowy records ...
From Estrangement to Reassessment? Israeli Media and Expert Views on China After the Twelve-Day War
By Amanda Chen Building on our previous analysis of China’s official position and expert debate on the Iran–Israel War, this edition of the ChinaMed Observer examines how the conflict has shaped Israeli analysts’ perceptions of China’s role in the Middle East. Even prior to ...
China Slams Vietnam Over Island-Building in South China Sea
China condemned Vietnam over a report it had sped up island-building in an area of the disputed South China Sea that Beijing claims as its own. "China firmly opposes the relevant country’s construction activities on islands and reefs they have illegally ...
Vietnam Expands Island-Building in the South China Sea
Vietnam's development of 21 Vietnamese-claimed rocks and low-tide elevations in the South China Sea has expanded considerably since 2021 to the point where it will match and possibly even exceed Chinese reclamation activity in the region. The findings in a new report ...
Lobito Corridor Not Intended to Counter China in Africa, Says New CEO
The Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) corridor is purely a commercial venture with “zero geopolitical considerations," said the new CEO, Nicholas Fournier, in an interview with the South China Morning Post newspaper. Fournier said the upgrade of the massive 1,800km-long railway that ends ...
Japan Revives Nacala Corridor in Africa as It Seeks to Cut China Out of Mineral Supply Chains
A much more subdued Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) wrapped up in Yokohama on Friday, which lacked many of the big check pledges of previous TICAD gatherings and instead focused on fostering trade ties between Japan and Africa. In his ...
How Chinese Companies Weigh Risk Against Profit in Africa’s Volatile Goldfields
Is Africa’s gold rush worth the life-and-death risks? Armed militants regularly storm mines in Ghana, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrecking equipment, kidnapping workers, and demanding ransoms. Embassies have even urged Chinese firms to pull out. Yet with gold ...
Indonesia, U.S. and Allies Launch Joint Military Drills
Indonesia and the United States launched joint military drills on Monday that will last more than a week, joining allies from 11 countries in exercises aimed at ensuring stability in the Asia-Pacific region. The annual "Super Garuda Shield" drills will take ...
Nigeria Deports Wanted Chinese Gang Leader
Nigeria's police service said Sunday it had extradited a Chinese gang leader wanted in his home country for organized violent crime, in an operation conducted with Interpol. A police statement said "high-profile fugitive", Dai Qisheng was sent to China on August ...
Amid Fuel Shortages, Cuba Looks to China for Energy Solutions
Cuba is in the middle of a profound energy crisis — and China sees an opening. As Havana struggles with crumbling infrastructure, dwindling oil imports, and a decades-long economic downturn, Beijing is stepping in to fill the void left by its traditional allies, Russia and Venezuela. The ...
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 ...
Thailand-Cambodia Clash Draws China, U.S. Into Mediation Push
A 24-hour burst of rockets and artillery on the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict has done more than kill civilians and send 100,000 people fleeing; it has set off a diplomatic sprint that pits China’s offer of “impartial” mediation against a U.S. treaty ally’s insistence on going it alone. ...
French Fighter Jet Purchase in Indonesia Met with Online Push for Chinese J-10s
Indonesia’s $8.1 billion deal to purchase 42 Rafale fighter jets from France marks a significant step in the country’s military modernization. However, the agreement has also attracted attention in another arena: Indonesia’s information space, where narratives—not just policies—are shaping perceptions of national defense, trade, and foreign ...
China’s Vital, Yet Poorly Understood Role in Africa’s Energy Sector
After a two-to-three-year hiatus following the pandemic, Chinese money is once again flowing into the African energy sector. Billions of dollars in new investment and construction contracts for power facilities were registered in the first half of the year, particularly in ...
Senegal Signs Transport Deal in China
Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko signed a deal aimed at transforming his country’s public transport sector during his state visit to China. The deal would see the establishment of an industrial assembly facility that will produce gas and electric buses. It aims to replace 40,000 diesel buses. ...
Vietnam and China Call for Deeper Ties
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, amid ongoing pressure from the United States to loosen the ties between the countries. The two met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions gathering in ...
How Paraguay’s Veto Power Could Reshape China’s Trade Future in South America
Amid a flurry of headline-grabbing geopolitical developments, one story has flown largely under the radar: several recent signals from within Paraguay suggest a potential shift in the country’s long-standing diplomatic relationship with Taiwan. While it might seem like just another chapter in the long-running contest between Beijing ...
Moving Beyond Infrastructure: Key Outcomes from the Second China-Central Asia Summit
Amid intensifying geopolitical turbulence across China's periphery—from the Israel-Iran conflict in the Middle East, to India-Pakistan tensions in South Asia, and the protracted Russia-Ukraine war in Eastern Europe—Beijing's neighborhood diplomacy has become an imperative for safeguarding regional stability. In this shifting ...
Bots Pushed Anti-China Narrative Ahead of Ghana Mining Ban
By Nicholas Roll Before Ghana banned foreigners from its gold trade earlier this year, an online bot campaign pushed anti-Chinese sentiment, blaming Chinese nationals for exploiting the country and stealing its resources. The west African ...
China’s Big Bet on Indonesian Nickel Faces a Harsh Reckoning
For years, China raced to secure the critical minerals needed to fuel its economy and the global clean energy transition. Nickel was supposed to be one of the surest bets. Now, one of China’s largest investments in Indonesia’s nickel industry is unraveling—and with it, some of the ...
China’s South Asia Watcher Spotlight the Dangerous India-Israel Axis
Amid the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, a WeChat account called South Asia Research Bulletin published a translated and annotated version of an article originally written by journalist Mohammad Asif Khan for The Electronic Intifada, titled “India’s sinister alliance with Israel” (June 7, 2024). The Chinese version was ...
Trump’s Contradictory Iran Strategy Leaves U.S. Weaker After War’s End, Says Chinese Commentator
After President Trump announced that American forces had destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities, ending the Israel-Iran conflict, Chinese media shifted focus from how the war would unfold to analyzing what actually happened. A commentary from news platform Guancha.cn titled “For Iran, which is the greater mistake—staying defiant ...
Will China’s Trade Strategy in Africa Succeed Where Europe’s Didn’t?
At a recent ministerial meeting in the central Chinese city of Changsha, Beijing announced an ambitious new phase of its engagement with Africa: the possibility of eliminating customs duties on exports from all 53 African countries (except for Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan). While many ...
Indonesia, China Expand QRIS, Cross-Border Payment in Local Currency
Indonesia and China have renewed and expanded a key financial agreement to promote the use of local currency in bilateral transactions and cross-border payments QRIS. Bank Indonesia and the People's Bank of China signed the updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta ...
Indonesia, China Agree to Bolster Ties Ahead of ASEAN Summit
Chinese Premier Li Qiang warned on Sunday that the rise of "unilateralism and protectionism" could threaten the global economic and trade order, as he reaffirmed Beijing's ties with Jakarta on Sunday during his visit to Indonesia ahead of a regional summit in Kuala Lumpur. ...
India’s Global PR Blitz Over ‘Operation Sindoor’ Draws Mockery from Chinese Netizens
China’s state-run Global Times (环球网) reported on Friday that the Indian government launched a sweeping international public relations campaign and aimed at promoting its narrative of a recent conflict with Pakistan. According to the report, India has dispatched seven global outreach teams, comprising over 50 political ...
U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks Were Doomed to Fail, Says Chinese Commentator
As the fifth round of the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks ends in deadlock, a recent commentary from Chinese outlet Phoenix News suggests the entire negotiation track may be doomed—undermined by strategic mistrust, asymmetric stakes, and Iran’s hard-learned refusal to surrender its nuclear leverage.
Chinese Netizens Don’t Buy Saudi’s $142 Billion Arms Deal – But It Triggers a Reality Check
A viral Chinese video on Bilibili titled “$142 Billion U.S. Arms Deal! Why Is Saudi Arabia Repeatedly Siding with the U.S.?” has stirred debate across Chinese social media platforms. The video struck a nerve with Chinese netizens by posing a gripping question: Does Riyadh’s record-breaking weapons ...
U.S. Tariff Tensions Test Southeast Asian Leaders at Regional Summit
By Jan Hennop in Kuala Lumpur and Martin Abbugao in Singapore Southeast Asian leaders will express deep concern over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff blitz when they meet at a summit Monday, warning that the unilateral move poses huge challenges to ...
Nigeria Court Orders Seizure Of 73 Properties Linked To Chinese Scam Suspects
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) anti-graft agency said Friday that a court has ordered the seizure of dozens of Lagos properties linked to Chinese nationals suspected of internet fraud. The agency said a Lagos court had "ordered the interim ...
Nigeria Court Orders Seizure Of 73 Properties Linked To Chinese Scam Suspects
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) anti-graft agency said Friday that a court has ordered the seizure of dozens of Lagos properties linked to Chinese nationals suspected of internet fraud. The agency said a Lagos court had "ordered the interim ...
Central Asia’s Mineral Magnet: Why China Is Doubling Down on Uzbekistan
As global competition for critical minerals heats up, Central Asia has become a strategic battleground, rich in resources and increasingly central to the ambitions of both regional and global powers. Within this context, China—already deeply engaged in the region's energy and infrastructure sectors—has adopted a more proactive ...
WEEK IN REVIEW: CATL Matches BYD’s Fast-Charging Breakthrough
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Kazakhstan on Friday for the Sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. The visit will also include a strategic dialogue with his Kazakh counterpart. From there, he will move on to the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brazil on Monday. (CHINESE ...
To Be or Not to Be a Bully? China’s Response to Trump’s Trade War
By Lukas Fiala From the U.S. CHIPS Act to the de-risking of supply chains, during the last five years, Beijing has been confronted with the question of how strongly it should push back against U.S. attempts to isolate China globally.
Central Asia’s Mineral Magnet: Why China Is Doubling Down on Uzbekistan
As global competition for critical minerals heats up, Central Asia has become a strategic battleground, rich in resources and increasingly central to the ambitions of both regional and global powers. Within this context, China—already deeply engaged in the region's energy and infrastructure sectors—has adopted a more proactive ...
Philippine Security Agency Says Signs of China Election Interference
By Pam Castro The Philippines' National Security Council (NSC) stated on Thursday that there are indications China is conducting a "state-sponsored" campaign to interfere in next month's midterm elections. The accusation emerged at a Senate ...
China and Kenya Pledge to Upgrade Ties, Oppose Tariffs
China and Kenya agreed on Thursday to boost ties to a new level and oppose trade barriers, following talks between President Xi Jinping and his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto, in Beijing. Relations between Beijing and Nairobi will be upgraded to a ...
CGTN to Expand African Operations
China’s state-owned China Global Television Network (CGTN) will allocate resources to expand its operations across Africa. The funding boost will expand coverage across the continent’s five regions, said Cao Ri, CGTN’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief, at a press conference in Beijing. The expansion ...
Malaysia to Target Chip Flow to China Under U.S. Pressure
Malaysia will tighten regulations on the trade in semiconductors after coming under U.S. pressure to stem the flow of high-end chips to China. Trade Minister Zafrul Aziz told reporters: “ asking us to make sure that we monitor every shipment that comes to Malaysia when it involves Nvidia ...
China Slams U.S. ‘Interference’ in Venezuela Over Trump Oil Tariff Threat
China on Tuesday accused the United States of "interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs" after President Donald Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on imports from countries that bought oil and gas from the South American nation. On Monday, Trump said the new ...
Trump Moves to Punish Venezuelan Oil Trade, With China and India Likely to Feel the Blow
By Beiyi Seow and Becca Milfed U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday steep tariffs on imports from countries buying Venezuelan oil and gas, a punitive measure that could hit China and India, among others, and sow fresh global trade uncertainty.
Ecuador Set to Receive Chinese-Built Dam Pending Arbitration Over Defects
By Julie Radomski The hydroelectric megaproject Coca Codo Sinclair is among Latin America's most controversial Chinese-financed and constructed infrastructure projects. Although officially inaugurated in 2016, the dam has not yet been formally handed over to the Ecuadorian government — but this ...
Philippines, U.S. Kick off Army Drills Ahead of Hegseth Visit
The Philippine and U.S. militaries kicked off joint exercises involving a combined 5,000 troops on Monday, Manila said, days before new U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was set to visit the Southeast Asian country. The weeks-long operation, an opening salvo ...
Facing Demographic Pressure, China Mulls Lowering Legal Marriage Age to Boost Birth Rates
A national advisor has proposed lowering China's legal marriage age to expand the fertility population base, arguing that such a move could help counter the country's declining birth rate and aging crisis. The proposal comes amid heightened discussions on ...
Israeli Media Examines Trade and Tech Relations with China
We present again an excerpt from our forthcoming report on Israeli media coverage of China in 2024. This section showcases an overview of Israeli commentators’ perspectives on trade and technological relations with China. As noted in the excerpt ...
Philippines Arrests Two More Chinese Nationals Over Spying
Philippine authorities said Tuesday they detained two Chinese nationals for spying, the latest in a series of arrests involving alleged espionage as confrontations between the countries increase in the disputed South China Sea. The men allegedly paid a trio of Filipino ...
U.S. Army Commander Meets Cambodian Leader to ‘Expand Defense Ties’
A senior U.S. army commander met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Monday to "expand bilateral defense ties," the Cambodian army said, with Washington having previously raised concerns over the kingdom's Chinese-renovated naval base. The United States has said the ...
Bolivia Inaugurates Steel Plant Built With Chinese Loan
Short on foreign currency, Bolivia inaugurated a steel plant Monday that it hopes will reduce its reliance on metal imports, thanks to a loan from China. The Mutun megaproject in Puerto Suarez, near Bolivia's border with Brazil, was built at a ...
Chinese AI, Automotive Tech Poised to Sweep Across Global South
When the Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer launched DeepSeek on January 20th, the global AI market for large language model (LLM) systems was turned upside down. Investors dumped nearly a trillion dollars of tech stocks in the U.S., panicked by the prospect ...
Philippines Stops Research Survey After Chinese ‘Harassment’ in Disputed Sea
The Philippines said Saturday it had suspended a scientific survey in the contested South China Sea due to "dangerous" harassment by Chinese navy and coast guard vessels and aircraft. China claims nearly all of the disputed waterway, brushing off rival claims ...
UN Urges Thailand Not to Deport Uyghurs to China
The UN indicated Friday it was urging Thailand not to send dozens of detained Uyghurs to any country where they risk "significant" harm, after reported plans to deport them to China. Rights groups have warned that Bangkok is preparing to deport ...
Ren Hanjun, a visiting professor at Peking University, posted a commentary on WeChat that was shared tens of thousands times entitled "Wars are easy to start, difficult to end."
The following is a transcript of a commentary posted on WeChat by Ren Hanjun, a visiting professor at a Peking University think tank who also posts video commentaries on international affairs on his WeChat channel 老任财富故事会 (Lao Ren’s Wealth Stories). This particular post about the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran went viral ...
From Estrangement to Reassessment? Israeli Media and Expert Views on China After the Twelve-Day War
By Amanda Chen Building on our previous analysis of China’s official position and expert debate on the Iran–Israel War, this edition of the ChinaMed Observer examines how the conflict has shaped Israeli analysts’ perceptions of China’s role in the Middle East. Even prior to ...
China Slams Vietnam Over Island-Building in South China Sea
China condemned Vietnam over a report it had sped up island-building in an area of the disputed South China Sea that Beijing claims as its own. "China firmly opposes the relevant country’s construction activities on islands and reefs they have illegally ...
Vietnam Expands Island-Building in the South China Sea
Vietnam's development of 21 Vietnamese-claimed rocks and low-tide elevations in the South China Sea has expanded considerably since 2021 to the point where it will match and possibly even exceed Chinese reclamation activity in the region. The findings in a new report ...
Lobito Corridor Not Intended to Counter China in Africa, Says New CEO
The Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) corridor is purely a commercial venture with “zero geopolitical considerations," said the new CEO, Nicholas Fournier, in an interview with the South China Morning Post newspaper. Fournier said the upgrade of the massive 1,800km-long railway that ends ...
Japan Revives Nacala Corridor in Africa as It Seeks to Cut China Out of Mineral Supply Chains
A much more subdued Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) wrapped up in Yokohama on Friday, which lacked many of the big check pledges of previous TICAD gatherings and instead focused on fostering trade ties between Japan and Africa. In his ...
How Chinese Companies Weigh Risk Against Profit in Africa’s Volatile Goldfields
Is Africa’s gold rush worth the life-and-death risks? Armed militants regularly storm mines in Ghana, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrecking equipment, kidnapping workers, and demanding ransoms. Embassies have even urged Chinese firms to pull out. Yet with gold ...
Indonesia, U.S. and Allies Launch Joint Military Drills
Indonesia and the United States launched joint military drills on Monday that will last more than a week, joining allies from 11 countries in exercises aimed at ensuring stability in the Asia-Pacific region. The annual "Super Garuda Shield" drills will take ...
Nigeria Deports Wanted Chinese Gang Leader
Nigeria's police service said Sunday it had extradited a Chinese gang leader wanted in his home country for organized violent crime, in an operation conducted with Interpol. A police statement said "high-profile fugitive", Dai Qisheng was sent to China on August ...