Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
Pakistan’s Defense Boom Puts Chinese-Designed Jets on the Global Market
By Saad Sayeed and Ariba Shahid Pakistan's defense manufacturing industry is running red hot since its jets, drones and missiles earned the coveted 'combat tested' tag in a conflict with India last year, attracting a slew of interested buyers.
analysis
Kenya Secures Duty-Free Access to China. Its Farmers May Still Struggle to Cash In
There's been a lot of discussion in Kenya over the weekend about how the country can best take advantage of a preliminary trade agreement signed late last week that grants 98.2% of Kenyan exports duty-free access to the Chinese market.
How Is China Viewing U.S. Actions in Venezuela – an Affront, an Opportunity, or a Blueprint?
By Kerry E. Ratigan China’s public response to the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro played out in a fairly predictable way, with condemnation of a “brazen” act of force against a sovereign nation and accusation of Washington acting like a “world ...
Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ Targets China, U.S. Oil Firms Could Pay the Price: Bousso
By Ron Bousso President Donald Trump plans to import previously sanctioned Venezuelan oil into the U.S., tearing up the global energy playbook and underscoring the seriousness of the administration’s ambition to dominate the Western Hemisphere.
As Iran Faces Its Gravest Crisis in Decades, China Stays on the Sidelines
China’s relationship with the Middle East is a perennial topic in discussions about China’s role in the Global South, especially at moments of crisis. Now, despite its publicly touted close relationship, as the Islamic Republic faces perhaps the most serious crisis in its 45 year history, including ...
A JF-17 Thunder fighter jet of the Pakistan Air Force takes off from Mushaf base in Sargodha, north Pakistan June 7, 2013. The plane is co-developed by the Aviation Industry Corp of China and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, according to local media. Picture taken June 7, 2013. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
By Saad Sayeed and Ariba Shahid Pakistan's defense manufacturing industry is running red hot since its jets, drones and missiles earned the coveted 'combat tested' tag in a conflict with India last year, attracting a slew of interested buyers. ...
Why Greenland is the New Front in the U.S.–China Resource Rivalry
By Lukas Fiala After a showcase of U.S. military might in Venezuela, the longstanding back-and-forth about a potential U.S. intervention in Greenland continues apace. With President Trump announcing earlier this week that the U.S. would acquire Greenland “one way or ...
Russia, China Unlikely to Back Iran Against U.S. Military Threats
By Fabien Zamora with Ludovic Ehret in Beijing While Russia and China are ready to back protest-rocked Iran under threat by U.S. President Donald Trump, that support would diminish in the face of U.S. military action, experts told AFP.
China-Southeast Asia in 2026 Depends on Beijing’s Ability to Rise to the Occasion
Southeast Asia’s relationship with China is set to face a convergence of diplomatic, political, and societal pressures in 2026. While Beijing remains one of the region’s most influential actors, its expanding economic footprint intersects with governance challenges and public discontent in several countries.
China’s 2026 Challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean
2025 was a rather tumultuous year for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Donald Trump’s return to the White House exacerbated geopolitical dynamics in the region, particularly in the realm of the U.S.-China strategic competition. From tariffs to claims that China ...
China-Central Asia in 2026: From Resource Access to Structured Interdependence
2025 marked an important inflection point in China-Central Asia relations. Not because China’s presence in the region was new, since Beijing has been a significant economic actor for more than a decade, but because the composition and structure of that engagement began to change in more visible ...
APEC Offers China a Chance to Revitalize Integration
By Christopher Findlay and Wenxiao Wang As the chair of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2026, China has a chance to revitalize Asia-Pacific integration around services and the digital economy. With services accounting for most output and employment across ...
Vietnam’s VinFast and the “China Plus One” Paradox
By Zhang Shiyao VinFast, Vietnam's largest electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, wrapped up 2025 with strong momentum: its domestic deliveries more than doubled in 2025, reaching 170,000 units - roughly one third of the country’s total car sales. With new ...
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 ...
China’s Clean Tech Charm Offensive Wins Global South Hearts and Minds
By Chris Aylett and Bernice Lee Air travellers making the descent into Islamabad, Nairobi, or São Paulo may be struck by the sight of solar panels scattered liberally over the rooftops. Regular visitors to Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city, will probably have ...
China: The Indispensable Partner of Maduro’s Venezuela
By Peter Catterall China was the dominant buyer of Venezuelan oil under deposed president Nicolas Maduro, the fulcrum of a symbiotic partnership that propped up the South American economy and gave Beijing regional influence. But ...
China’s Rhetoric Is Clear on Venezuela. Latin America’s Response Is Not.
While the dust from the U.S. military operation in Caracas to oust Nicolás Maduro has yet to settle, early Chinese reactions already offer useful food for thought. The views expressed across Latin America, largely absent from both Chinese and Western commentary, also help contextualize how China’s relationship ...
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Driving Kenya’s First Locally Built Electric Car as BYD Dethrones Tesla and China’s ICE & EV Dual Strategy
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service. African countries are embarking on an unprecedented bout of techno-social evolution brought about by Chinese electric vehicle (EV) technologies that ...