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China-Central Asia Weekly News: Building Skills and Local Capacity

This is a free preview of the upcoming China-Central Asia Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in 2026. China's engagement with Central Asia is entering a new phase that extends far beyond the traditional Belt and ...

China’s Battery Breakthroughs May Leave Some Developing Countries Behind

Chinese researchers and firms are accelerating the race towards the next generation of battery technologies, and this will undoubtedly reshape the fortunes of countries heavily reliant on cobalt and nickel exports.  Today, most electric vehicles utilize lithium-ion batteries that are made ...

Nigeria Moves to Build Solar Manufacturing Industry, But Reliance on China is Inevitable

Nigeria imported Chinese solar panels last year with a combined capacity of 1,721 megawatts (MW)- enough to power roughly half a million homes. The country now ranks as Africa’s second-largest importer, trailing only South Africa and ahead of Morocco and ...

Localizing Cautiously: BYD’s Strategic Approach to Kazakhstan’s EV Market

Kazakhstan has long courted electric vehicle makers to localize passenger car production, hoping to follow in Uzbekistan’s footsteps. Yet the real breakthrough may come from a different direction. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturing giant BYD’s plan to start with buses—rather than cars—marks a subtle but ...

Tianjin Summit in Review: The Winner Takes It All (But Not Much)

By Felix Brender 王哲謙 “We should continue to unequivocally oppose hegemonism and power politics, practice true multilateralism,” Xi declared in Tianjin last week. Yet for many of the leaders in the room, multilateralism appears to chiefly mean “more of me” ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

How to Lure Chinese Financing Back to the Global South: Report

Global South countries face increasing financing pressure, endangering their ability to keep developing while also implementing measures to deal with a growing climate crisis. The disruption of global trade is coupled with a larger megatrend: flows of international capital to the developing world have turned negative. This means that countries are now routinely paying more to service loans than they receive in disbursements.

The vast majority of Global South borrowers ...

China–Indonesia Launch Yuan–Rupiah Settlements, QR Payments

China and Indonesia on Thursday launched a local-currency settlement framework for bilateral transactions. Both countries also began a two-way trial of cross-border QR code payments. The central bank chiefs called the steps important milestones. Bank Indonesia said the local-currency scheme ...

China’s Gradual but Growing Security Influence in Africa

China is steadily expanding its security presence in Africa through deeper military ties, weapons sales, and multinational deployments as UN Peacekeepers. In fact, China is now the largest arms supplier to Sub-Saharan Africa, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace ...

Philippines to Protest Over China’s ‘Nature Reserve’ Plan

The Philippines said Thursday it will file a diplomatic protest and slammed as “illegitimate and unlawful” China’s plan to declare a “Huangyan Dao National Nature Reserve” at Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea. China rejected what it called “unreasonable” accusations and dismissed Manila’s “so-called” ...