Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
Kenya’s Dream to Build a Modern Railway Is Turning Into an Economic Nightmare
Many Kenyans were excited about plans to build a modern railway across the country linking the port city of Mombasa and Malaba town on the Kenya-Uganda border. It was touted as a game-changer; the key to unlocking not just Kenya’s economic takeoff, but that of the entire ...
Chinese Diplomats in Africa Are Increasingly Using Their Twitter Accounts to Amplify Anti-U.S. Propaganda
Ambassador Chen Xiaodong in Pretoria is among China's most senior and high-profile diplomats in Africa. Like many of his peers across the continent, he's turning to Twitter to relay anti-U.S. propaganda produced by Chinese state media. On Tuesday, ...
Time is Running Out to Jump Out of the Fire
The new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s massive new report makes for scary reading. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres called it a ‘code red for humanity’ and that’s probably understating the level of danger. It’s increasingly clear that staving off global disaster ...
China’s Evolving Military Diplomacy in the Global South
By Lukas Fiala, LSE IDEAS China Foresight August 1st marked the 94th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). While CGTN celebrated the occasion with a blockbuster-esque video, showcasing the PLA’s growing military strength and operational know-how, China’s ambassador to ...
The West’s Ignorance About What China’s Doing in Africa is a Feature Not a Bug
Those of us who concentrate on Africa-China relations have long warned that the current framing of the relationship as a zero-sum arena in a new cold war strips African states of agency. The problem isn’t only that it flattens the complex ...
Josep Borrell’s Misguided Views on Chinese Vaccines in Africa
European Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell is really unhappy with how the bloc's member states have hoarded vaccines for themselves at the expense of developing countries in Africa and Latin America. On Friday he criticized the EU's contributions to those regions as "insufficient."
Stop the Blame Game: The Complex Picture of China and Coal Finance
By Hugo Jones and Lukas Fiala Apocalyptic images reach us from China this week. The immense flooding in Henan province has come with tragic human cost, a typhoon has edged onto China’s eastern coast, and Shanghai is facing torrential rains and winds. These events have already stirred discussions ...
Why the Chinese Embassy in DRC Needs To Take Labor Abuse Videos Seriously
China's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zhu Jing, is probably hoping that the fuss from the recent emergence of multiple social videos that depict violent abuse of local Congolese workers by Chinese managers will blow over. ...
Chinese Companies’ “Eat Bitter” Management Style Just Doesn’t Work in Africa
Forget debt traps, Huawei ‘back-doors' and vaccine diplomacy. They might be the disputes that define our current polarized moment. But I’m willing to bet they won’t have the staying power of the one – the original – dispute that has haunted Chinese engagement with Africa since the ...
Climate Suffering and Its Complications
This week, the climate crisis became a lot more concrete. Heatwaves and fire across North America overlapped with massive floods in Germany and China. I say ‘concrete’ but of course climate change has been pretty concrete for millions of climate refugees across the Global South for a while ...
The China-Mediterranean Observer: China Emerges as Key Mediator in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Standoff
Among the most interesting topics discussed this month in the media published throughout the wider Mediterranean region, the crisis over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia stands out. We also found a number of interesting reports regarding the relations between the countries of ...
Chinese Media Report on What Happened in South Africa, They Just Won’t Tell You Much About Why It Happened
Chinese media coverage of last week's violence in South Africa was notable for how it reported on the events that led to the death of at least 200 people and caused widespread damage in many of South Africa's largest cities including Durban, Newcastle, and Johannesburg among others. ...