Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
A 2015 Speech for a 2026 Crisis
Former U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, on Saturday delivered the opening address at the Harvard College China Forum, where he presented the case for deeper engagement between the two major powers. The speech would have been great if it were ...
analysis
China Model Gains Appeal in Vietnam as Police Expand Power
By Francesco Guarascio Vietnam is increasingly edging closer to China's model of governance, tightening state control while embracing Chinese technology and regulation as its most powerful leader in decades heads to Beijing this week, according to internal documents, public ...
China’s Energy Strategy Pays off as Mideast War Cramps Supplies: Analysts
By Peter Catterall China's long-term strategy of diversifying energy sources and building stockpiles is helping it weather disruptions from the Iran war, although some sectors still face major snags, analysts say. China is a net ...
The Real Victor: The Arab Media Debate on China and the Iran War
By Francesca Daniele On March 11, 2026, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2817. Proposed by Bahrain and backed by fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as well as Jordan, the resolution condemns “in the strongest terms” Iran’s ...
On Iran Truce, All Sides Want Bigger China Role, but Does China?
By Shaun Tandon For decades, the United States has cast itself as the guarantor of stability in the Middle East, allying militarily with Gulf Arab states as well as Israel and brushing aside global rival China's aspirations for a greater role. ...
Nicholas Burns. Image - Harvard University
Former U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, on Saturday delivered the opening address at the Harvard College China Forum, where he presented the case for deeper engagement between the two major powers. The speech would have been great if it were 2015. ...
China Model Gains Appeal in Vietnam as Police Expand Power
By Francesco Guarascio Vietnam is increasingly edging closer to China's model of governance, tightening state control while embracing Chinese technology and regulation as its most powerful leader in decades heads to Beijing this week, according to internal documents, public ...
China’s Mining and Port Power in Peru Draws Renewed U.S. Attention
By Lucinda Elliott and Marco Aquino As Peru heads into the first round of its presidential election on Sunday, Washington is mounting its most assertive push in years to shore up influence in the major copper producer that has become a ...
Guinea Iron Ore Project Tests China’s ‘Transition Finance’ Credibility
By Deng Yaowen In January 2024, China Baowu Steel Group issued the first tranche of a bond that raised CNY 10 billion ($1.45 billion) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Media reports described it as one ...
China Is on China’s Side…but Whose Side Is That Exactly?
By Lukas Fiala China is on China’s side. That was the verdict of a GCC China expert cited in Jonathan Fulton’s excellent China-MENA newsletter this week. Despite Beijing’s veto of Bahrain’s UNSC proposal and reports of Chinese shipments of ...
U.S. War Against Iran Gives Beijing Intelligence Dividend
By Sophie Wushuang Yi Operation Epic Fury has given Chinese military planners something no simulation can replicate: a live stress-test of American high-end warfighting capacity in a prolonged, high-intensity conflict against a determined regional power. The more consequential question ...
China’s Copper Import Slump Marks a Shift in Market Power – ROI
By Andy Home A two-week ceasefire in the Iran war has dispersed some of the macroeconomic gloom enveloping the copper market, but there may be an even bigger problem for copper bulls. China, ...
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Chinese EVs’ New Lifeline in Africa, Asia and Latin America as Oil Volatility Grows
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service. With this edition, we start our expansion from covering EV adoption in Africa to tracking electrification across the Global South. ...
Three New Polls Show China is Edging Past the U.S. as the World’s Partner
Worry about the Trump administration’s decision-making is leading the public around the world to see China as an increasingly attractive counter-option. This is the main takeaway from three large public opinion polls released recently. The annual Gallup poll of 130 ...
The Strait Test: How the Hormuz Crisis Reframed China’s Energy Offer for SE Asia
The Two Sessions, China’s most important annual political gathering, where leaders unveil economic targets and policy priorities, closed in Beijing earlier this month just as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran was intensifying. The timing was not coincidental. The 15th Five-Year ...
Experts Say China Is Studying U.S. Power in Iran War and Its Limits
There's been a lot of speculation in U.S. and European policy analysis circles over what lessons China is taking away from the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. The debate largely divides along two broad categories. On one side, popular in Washington, D.C., ...
Tonga’s Debt to China Hinders Rebuild Four Years on From Eruption
By Ben Strang More than four years on from one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in history, Tonga is struggling to improve its infrastructure as it pays off a massive Chinese loan. When Hunga ...
China Is Helping Build Africa’s Cities, but Its Approach Sidelines Local Urban Planners and Residents
By Ding Fei As African cities experience some of the fastest urban growth rates in the world, China has become a major bilateral financier for urban infrastructure. From Nairobi’s elevated expressways to Lagos’s airport upgrades and Addis Ababa’s ...