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Europe Meets Africa Amid Rising China Anxieties

About seventy leaders from European Union and African Union member countries met for a summit in Angola on Monday. The summit is partially overshadowed by the rapid developments around a possible U.S.-led deal in Ukraine, where Europe is being sidelined. The Europeans gathered an impromptu internal summit ...

China-Central Asia Weekly News: Managing Friction, Sanctions, and Local Benefits

This is a free preview of the upcoming Critical Minerals Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service launching in 2026. Chinese engagement in Central Asia is facing several friction points that highlight the social and geopolitical complexities behind its ...

Alleged Abuses at Chinese-Invested Nickel Plant Expose Indonesia’s Weak Labor Oversight

Last month, LBH Makassar, a legal-aid organization in eastern Indonesia that represents workers and low-income communities, delivered an open letter to the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta. The letter describes serious labor violations at PT Huadi Nickel Alloy Indonesia, a Chinese-invested nickel smelter operating in Bantaeng, a ...

Navigating the Second China Shock

Like climate change or runaway AI risks, China’s swelling manufacturing capacity is a global challenge faced by middle and high-income economies alike. Trade tensions already dominate EU-China relations, and concerns over China’s manufacturing capacity are rising across the Global South. In ...

Taiwan’s President to Propose $40 Billion in Extra Defense Spending

By Joy Chiang Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te said Wednesday his government will propose $40 billion in additional defense spending over eight years, as the democratic island seeks to deter a potential Chinese invasion. Taiwan has ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

2026: Africa-China Relations in a World Shaped by North-South Geopolitics

When talking about Africa–China relations, one is always moving along a sliding scale. There are myriad interactions with Chinese entities that concern only individual African countries, segueing into trends affecting the whole continent and sliding further into global dynamics shaping the developing world, of which Africa is the heart.

The Africa-China relationship is its own thing, but Africa’s fate can’t easily be separated from factors affecting the wider Global South, ...

China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: China Races Ahead in Africa’s EV Market as Local Manufacturing, Legacy Players Gain Momentum

This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service. Chinese automakers are accelerating their push into Africa’s electric vehicle market, viewing the continent as one of the few remaining ...

How China Outmaneuvers the West in Myanmar

By Jared Bissinger In the last year, China has increasingly used its economic leverage in Myanmar to tilt the scales towards the military’s State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC), helping them to regain territory and re-exert economic control. China has done ...

EU Says Must ‘Step up’ Against China Rare Earths ‘Racket’

The European Union must ramp up efforts to break its dependence on China for rare earths faced with export curbs that amount to a "racket" by Beijing, the bloc's industry chief Stephane Sejourne said Tuesday. China, the world's top producer of ...

China Likely to Bid on Building New Panama Canal Ports

China is among parties interested in bidding to build two new ports on the Panama Canal, its administrator said Tuesday, despite U.S. talk of retaking control of the vital trade route. U.S. President Donald Trump made the threat earlier this year, ...

As Conflict Escalates in Eastern Congo, China’s Mining Giants Confront New Risks Far From the Front Lines

In late November, China’s Foreign Ministry issued a stark warning about the Democratic Republic of Congo: the security situation in the east has deteriorated sharply, with armed clashes, extremist activity and attacks against foreign workers rising again. Congo sits at the ...

Kyrgyzstan Arrests Chinese CEO of Gold Mining Firm

Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday it had arrested the Chinese CEO of a gold mining firm accused of causing "large-scale" environmental damage, amid growing public scrutiny over Beijing's influence in the Central Asian country. China has poured hundreds of millions of dollars of ...

A Chinese Upstart Takes On Big Tobacco in Kenya — by Playing It Straight

In a sector long dominated by counterfeit trade and British American Tobacco's (BAT) near-monopoly of the Kenyan cigarette market, a Chinese distributor did something no one expected: it played by the book.  The popular Kenya-based Chinese online commentator Xiao Nie “小聂说事儿,” ...