Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
As China Builds the Grid, Laos’s Power Ambitions Enter a New Phase
2026 marks a strategic turning point for Laos in its ambition to become the “Battery of Southeast Asia”, with two mega power transmission projects advancing this year. On the first day of January 2026, the 230 kV Thavieng-Mahaxay transmission line ...
analysis
After a Panama Port Decision, Washington Faces Hard Choices on China and the Canal
U.S. government officials celebrated last week's decision by the Supreme Court in Panama to nullify the contract for a Hong Kong-based company to operate ports along the country's two coasts, leading into the canal zone. A lot of people erroneously thought ...
Implications of Panama Court Ruling to Quash CK Hutchison Port Concessions
By Clare Jim, Kane Wu and Scott Murdoch Panama's Supreme Court annulled last week CK Hutchison's contract to operate two Panama Canal ports at the heart of a $23-billion deal to sell the Hong Kong conglomerate's global port assets.
U.S. Defense Strategy Signals a Harder Line on China in Latin America
In January, the Trump Administration published its 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS). The document, which was released without fanfare, confirms that a strategic shift is well underway in the Western Hemisphere, and Latin American and Caribbean states are on the receiving end of that shift.
China and the Libyan Crisis: Maintaining a Foot in the Door in a Changing Region
By Bianca Pasquier and Leonardo Bruni, On November 12, 2025, the Chinese embassy in Tripoli officially reopened after more than a decade. However, the return of Chinese diplomatic staff to the Libyan capital passed largely unnoticed, attracting scant media interest ...
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Power transmission towers in Laos. Image via Électricité du Laos.
2026 marks a strategic turning point for Laos in its ambition to become the “Battery of Southeast Asia”, with two mega power transmission projects advancing this year. On the first day of January 2026, the 230 kV Thavieng-Mahaxay transmission line project officially broke ground. ...
The 2025 China-Africa Trade Rundown
In 2025, trade between China and Africa reached $348 billion, a 17.7% increase from 2024. As in the previous year, this growth was largely driven by rising Chinese exports, which amounted to $225 billion, compared to $123 billion in imports from the African continent. Another trend: export ...
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 ...
China Emerges as Top Development Partner for Small Island States, ODI Survey Finds
As climate shocks intensify and aid from legacy donors comes under pressure, China is increasingly filling the development gap for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a group of climate-vulnerable economies spread across the Caribbean, Pacific, Indian Ocean, and South China Sea, according to a new report from ...
New Data Reveals China’s Complex Role in Africa’s Debt Portfolio
China was once Africa's largest bilateral creditor, but now, as many of those loans come due, it's become the continent's largest bilateral collector, according to a new report by the UK-based NGO ONE Data. The so-called "Great Reversal" that ONE Data identified highlights how ...
Scandal Tests Peru’s China Ties as U.S. Scrutiny Intensifies
By Marco Aquino A scandal surrounding undisclosed meetings with a Chinese businessman by Peru's acting president has shone an unflattering spotlight on the key copper exporter's ties to China at a moment of heightened U.S. scrutiny of Beijing's footprint in the region. ...
Fearing China Clash, Japan Asks Fishermen to Avoid Flashpoint Islands
By Mariko Katsumura, Tim Kelly, Nobuhiro Kubo and John Geddie Hitoshi Nakama, 76, sees himself as a frontline defender of Japan's claims to disputed islands in the East China Sea, where he regularly evades Chinese coast guard ships to harvest the bountiful waters. ...
China and ASEAN Enter a Pivotal Year, With Trade, AI and the South China Sea in Play
As 2026 begins, the China-ASEAN relationship is evolving across several fronts, including trade, Artificial Intelligence, infrastructure development, and South China Sea. With the ASEAN's chairmanship held by the Philippines, the year opens with distinct political and institutional dynamics for the region. ...
The Fraying Story of the “West” and What’s Next
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech in Davos marked a new era in how the West talks about itself. One could say he was the first Global North leader to frame the rules-based international order (RIP) in Global South terms: ...
In 2026 China–India Ties Will Primarily Be Shaped at Home, Not by the U.S.
By Saniya Kulkarni and Lukas Fiala The tentative normalisation of Sino-Indian relations over the last year has sometimes been attributed to President Trump’s heavy-handed approach to trade policy, especially his "liberation day" tariff announcements. Going into 2026, however, it remains the ...
China’s Evolving Lending Footprint in Africa: Selective Engagement and Strategic Retooling
By Mengdi Yue and Yiyuan Qi Chinese loans to Africa are down once again, but not out. Boston University Global Development Policy Center’s newly updated Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database shows that, despite a slight rise in 2023, Chinese ...
Photo Essay: How TikTok Turned Jakarta’s Traders and Buskers Into a New Working Class
“Darling, the mahogany denim is on display number six, my love. Please check it out, darling,” Nova shouts energetically. She is a TikTok Live host in central Jakarta's Tanah Abang Block A, standing confidently in front of two smartphones. Dressed in ...
Myth and Misperception: Does China Always Bully Its Neighbors Over Territorial Disputes?
In this edition of M&M, I want to discuss how China handled its territorial disputes with Vietnam. This is an important topic considering China and Vietnam currently have disputes over the Paracel and Spratly Islands, and that they once fought a war over the disputed land border ...