Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
Things to Know About Africa-China Relations
Two very different rundowns of Africa’s relationship with China emerged over the past week. On the one side of the Pacific, the analyst Jordan Link published a paper framed as a list of five things U.S. policymakers should know about the relationship. On the other, Li Anshan, the ...
We Got Our First Peek at B3W, But It’s Still Not Clear What the U.S. is Trying to Do
The Biden administration appears to be ramping up its efforts to get the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative off the ground. In what was the first action related to the program since it was announced over the summer at the G7 summit in England, a high-level ...
Public Diplomacy With Chinese Characteristics
Many observers were caught off guard when Wu Peng, China’s top diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa, publicly condemned Chinese companies engaged in illegal activities in the DRC and announced the intention of the Chinese government to prosecute them at home. However, coming from him, it shouldn’t really be a ...
Grappling with African Success
This week saw the second China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, held in Changsha, the capital of China’s Hunan province. As we’ve covered over the last few years, the city is rapidly emerging as a hub of Africa-China trade. It houses a new cocoa trading facility and is ...
Q&A: What Lessons Can the DRC Learn From Ghana’s Experience Combatting Illegal Chinese Mining Activities?
In the last few weeks, we have witnessed heightened campaigns against illegal mining activities associated with Chinese companies in the Congolese provinces of Ituri and South Kivu. Several Chinese miners were arrested in the far Eastern Ituri province where it is believed that an unknown number ...
Ethiopia, China and the Future of African Conflict
Ethiopia is giving us a glimpse of a set of dynamics that could come to shape African life in complicated ways. Last week, the Biden administration announced new sanctions aimed at reducing violence in the Tigray region, where conflict between the forces of President Abiy Ahmed and ...
It’s Time For a More Nuanced Discussion About China
Recently, I caught up by phone with a long-time Chinese friend. The conversation started off friendly enough but soon veered into a heated debate after he accused me of turning from pro-China to anti-China. I met my Chinese friend while I was working at the Chinese embassy’s ...
Our Haunted Moment
Today we’re featuring a fascinating conversation with the Congolese analyst Christian-Geraud Neema Byamungu about recent developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In case you haven’t been following this story, the last few weeks saw a flurry of
Our Haunted Moment
Today we’re featuring a fascinating conversation with the Congolese analyst Christian-Geraud Neema Byamungu about recent developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In case you haven’t been following this story, the last few ...
Chinese Stakeholders in the DR Congo Go On the Offensive in a Bid To Change the Narrative
Chinese mining interests in the DR Congo are now pushing back aggressively against the perception that they are unfairly exploit Congo's natural resources through unfair contracts, avoiding taxes, and not fulfilling corporate social responsibility commitments. The companies, many of which are ...
China’s Vaccine Diplomacy: Soft Power Lessons from Latin America
By Dr. Álvaro Mendez, Co-Director & Senior Associate Fellow, Global South Unit at LSE IDEAS In early 2021, Beijing launched a diplomatic campaign to promote China’s COVID-19 vaccines with the aim of winning friends and cutting deals in ...
Africa Should Negotiate Collectively with China at FOCAC. But That’s Not Going to Happen.
As the next Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) draws closer, the same sentiments and concerns over Africa’s relative position in the 20-year-old arrangement keep coming up. It is widely acknowledged that the continent generally gets the short end of the stick ...