Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
Kenya’s SGR Scandal Isn’t Going Away
This week saw the announcement that the United Kingdom’s international development investment arm, the CDC Group, will invest $1 billion in Kenyan infrastructure. This will include funding a new rail transit hub in Nairobi. It’s interesting that the UK is leaning into ...
IMF = Good, China = Debt Trap ??
The New York-based geopolitical consulting firm Eurasia Group's media unit, GZERO, published a new infographic on Thursday that sums up the deeply ingrained yet highly simplistic media narrative in the United States about Western institutions like the IMF versus China: A) ...
U.S., European Financial Media Struggle to Report the Chinese Debt Story in the Global South
A number of prominent U.S. and European financial news outlets including the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal among others are visibly struggling in their reporting of Chinese debt stories in the Global South. There's a certain formula that's emerged ...
The Long Arc of Chinese Lending to Africa
The biggest headline from November’s FOCAC meeting was China’s pivot away from infrastructure funding. But like many FOCAC headlines, it needs several asterisks. In the first place, the pivot might actually be away from a particular infrastructure model (massive projects funded with large bilateral Chinese policy bank ...
If You’re Going to Criticize China For Its Lending Practices, Make Sure to At Least Get Your Facts Right
The central bank in Sri Lanka will make a $500 million payment on Tuesday to bondholders, the first tranche of $4.5 billion in debt servicing obligations that Colombo is due to pay this year. The South Asian island state ...
Beijing’s “Wait and See” Approach in Kazakhstan
By Lukas Fiala and Hugo Jones, China Foresight LSE IDEAS Over the two weeks, we closely followed Kazakh people take to the streets to protest against increasing fuel prices after a government decision to lift a price cap. As the protests ...
It’s Difficult to Overstate Just How Much the “Debt Trap” Accusation Irks Chinese Officials
Wu Peng, China's top diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa, on Wednesday posted a tweet that featured a week-old video of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari defending his decision to borrow from China. Wu didn't include any other reference in ...
China’s African Debt Experiment
The Financial Times today published a deep dive into the issue of Chinese lending to African countries and what struck me was how it crystallizes some of the underlying issues that aren’t necessarily made clear in the debt debate. ...
Kenyatta to China’s Critics: “We Don’t Need Lectures”
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta hit back at critics of China's presence in Africa, presenting Beijing as a welcome alternative to Africa's legacy partners in the U.S. and Europe that too often, he said, lectured African countries and dictated the terms of engagement.
Taking Stock of Wang Yi’s African Tour
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to East Africa and the Indian Ocean region is only halfway through, but it has already produced several interesting data points: In the first place, Wang made an oblique reference to China’s willingness to develop ...
Africa’s Muted Response to Wang Yi’s Tour
Despite the importance of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Kenya, Eritrea and the Comoros this week, African media coverage of the tour remains surprisingly scant. In the week after his visit was announced, very little has come from these countries in terms of agenda-setting, and ...
Wang Yi’s Visit and Africa-China Alignment
It has become customary that the Chinese Foreign Minister’s first overseas trip of the new year is to Africa. Just as customary is the annual bout of chin-stroking and speculation among Africa-China watchers about the choice of destinations. This year, the ...