Day: December 15, 2025

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Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Makes Surprise Appearance in Rwanda

Jack Ma, the legendary Chinese tech mogul and founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, made a surprise appearance in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, on Saturday to attend the African Business Heroes awards, which he launched in the late 2010s. Ma was ...

China’s New Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Tours the Region

China's newly-appointed Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa (HoA), Hu Changchun, spent the past week visiting officials in Egypt, Eritrea, and Ethiopia as part of an introductory tour. Last month, Hu succeeded Beijing's first special envoy for the region, Xue Bing, 

China Issues Forceful Defense of South Africa’s Membership in G20

The Chinese government issued a forceful endorsement of South Africa's membership in the G20, a move that will likely thwart the U.S. efforts to exclude the group's only African member state from next year's summit in Miami.

China’s Foreign Minister Courts Gulf Leaders Amid Regional Realignments

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday in Riyadh, where the two discussed bolstering the Kingdom's ties with Iran. In 2023, China helped to broker a reconciliation between the two rivals after a ...

Kidnapping of Chinese Influencer in South Africa Sparks Alarm Over “High-Profile Travel”

A kidnapping in South Africa has sent shockwaves through China’s internet, not only because a Chinese traveler was violently targeted, but because the scheme appears to have been orchestrated with help from a Chinese national. The victim, a top travel influencer with more than 26 million ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Confusing Developments in “Development”

This week I’m in Brussels, where I took part in a workshop on how the EU should shape its development strategy in response to China’s global influence.
I have joked in the past that it feels like I’ve attended this same ‘EU, Africa, and External Development Partners’ conference for ten years straight. 

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Chile’s Rightward Shift Signals New Risks for China in Latin America, Chinese Commentator Says

As vote totals came in over the weekend in Chile's presidential run-off election, Chinese social media began to anticipate what José Antonia Kast's victory could mean for China. A WeChat account focusing on international affairs tried to analyze how Kast’s ...

Inside the Himalayas’ Last Living Trade Route

A recent in-depth feature published on the Guangzhou-based renowned newspaper Southern Weekly takes readers into Purang (Burang) on Tibet’s remote Ali Plateau, a tri-border junction between China, Nepal, and India, where one of the Himalayas’ oldest trading systems is still alive. And timing matters: 2026 will ...

Constructive Responses to Net Negative Transfers: What Next for China’s Financial Relationship With Low-Income Countries

By Rebecca Ray In the last few years, China’s net debt transfers (new disbursements minus repayments) to low-income countries have turned negative. This trend means that poor countries are now repaying China more each year for past years’ lending than they ...

Japan’s Only Two Pandas to Be Sent Back to China: Reports

Two pandas at a Tokyo zoo will be returned to China in January, Japanese media said on Monday, potentially leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century. Loaned out as part of China's "panda diplomacy" ...

Xi Jinping Says Efforts to ‘Choke’ China Cannot Succeed

China’s leadership is signaling that U.S.-led economic and technology pressure will not change Beijing’s development course. President Xi Jinping made the remarks at the Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing last Thursday. He uses the key economic planning meeting to ...