Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
Xi Can Skip the G20 Without Losing Africa. For Trump, It’s Different.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's predictable decision not to attend this Saturday's G20 summit in Johannesburg is sparking quite a bit of chatter among journalists and other observers that Beijing is somehow dissing South Africa and downgrading the G20 as a whole. ...
analysis
China’s Tech Push Reshapes Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Fields, Bringing Big Gains and Bigger Risks
Claude Kaharo stands outside his traditional tobacco curing barn in Marondera, Mashonaland East, watching smoke billow from the thatched structure. Black scorch marks covering the circular hut are evidence of the countless wood-burning curing sessions he has managed over nearly a decade of farming. Now 56, the ...
China Moves from Infrastructure to Legal Influence in Africa
Prosecutors and representatives from twelve African countries — Ethiopia, Algeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe — gathered in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, on October 29, 2025, for the second China-Africa Prosecutorial Cooperation Forum. The meeting’s theme, ...
Nigeria and the U.S.-China-Geopolitics of a ‘Guns-a-Blazing’ Threat
The first few days of November delivered a powerful, if chilling, lesson in contemporary geopolitics for Abuja. When the U.S. President, Donald Trump, fresh from re-designating Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” for religious freedom violations, threatened to intervene militarily in the nation “guns-a-blazing” over allegations ...
A Post-American Shift Complicates Growth Strategies for the Global South
by Lukas Fiala and Chris Alden From the BRICS to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), members of recently expanding international fora are quick to point to a multipolar order as a hopeful imaginary of post-Western internationalism.
(Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)
by Lukas Fiala and Chris Alden From the BRICS to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), members of recently expanding international fora are quick to point to a multipolar order as a hopeful imaginary of post-Western internationalism. From Beijing and ...
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: From Pixii to Yango: Africa’s Next Wave of Electric Vehicle Innovation
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service. Changes in electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and trade dynamics worldwide are unlocking business innovation. African countries, which largely lag ...
From Blueprint to Power Plant: Lessons from Chinese Power Projects in Africa
After tracing the arc from planning to procurement, financing to construction, this final installment in Part 1 of The Porcelain Jar at the End of the Rainbow pauses to reflect. What have we learned, not just about China’s engagement in Africa’s power sector, but about the systems, choices, and ...
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Training, Tensions, and Transitions as Africa’s EV Push Gains Momentum
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service. Electric vehicle (EV) training is one of the major missing links when it comes to e-mobility adoption in different African ...
Chinese EV Maker Bets on Nigeria’s Green Future With Electric Vans And Youth Training Program
Little-known Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, CAWIN, is partnering with Nigeria’s ABC Logistics, a courier and parcel-delivery firm, to test a fleet of fully electric vehicles as part of a broader effort to green its logistics operations. The pilot program ...
Balancing Giants: APEC, the Pacific Alliance, and Latin America’s Quest for Strategic Autonomy
The 2025 APEC Summit, held in early November in Gyeongju, South Korea, came to a close with a hopeful image: a renewed spirit of dialogue between the United States and China following a bilateral meeting between President Trump and President Xi.
Mediterranean Anxieties Over the Sino-Moroccan Rapprochement: French, Algerian, and Tunisian Media Perspectives
By Bianca Pasquier On October 31, 2025, China abstained from the United Nations Security Council vote endorsing Morocco’s “Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal” for resolving the conflict between Rabat and the Polisario Front. Two days prior, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly ...
Reexporting the Revolution: Kyrgyzstan’s Strategic Role in China’s Electric Vehicle Expansion
Like its Central Asian neighbors Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan is rapidly emerging as a major export market for Chinese automakers, both for traditional and electric vehicles. This surge comes amid tightening restrictions in Western markets on Chinese exports, pushing Chinese manufacturers to deepen their presence across Eurasia. ...
The Pain of Un-Polarity
“THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!” This post by U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week may end up leaving a more lasting mark than the actual summit he attended. ...
UN Celebrates Chinese Peacekeepers in South Sudan Even as Questions Linger Over What Was Achieved
By Felix Brender 王哲謙 When seven hundred members of China’s 11th Peacekeeping Infantry Battalion were awarded the United Nations Peace Medal of Honour in Juba on 23 October 2025, Chinese media celebrated. State broadcaster Xinhua framed the event as proof of ...
China’s Shadow Looms Over Trump’s Summit With Central Asian Leaders
U.S. President Donald Trump will host all five Central Asian leaders in Washington on Thursday, marking the first time they have been gathered together. This comes just a few months after they held separate summits with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China E-Mobility Weekly Digest: Chinese, Vietnamese Automakers Heat Up Africa’s EV Race as Local Innovation Gathers Pace
This is a free preview of the upcoming Africa EVs Weekly Digest, part of the new CGSP Intelligence service. This week, the enhanced technology features of some Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) are proving a challenge after claims that embedded ...
Swapping Sides: How a U.S. Bailout Could Shift Argentina’s Geostrategic Compass
Since day one of the Trump administration, the United States has sought to reassert its presence and tighten its influence in Latin America. In doing so, Washington is working to push back against what it perceives as China’s growing preeminence in the region — a rise made ...