Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
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 ...
Which Way is West?
One of the fun aspects of the China-Africa Project is that we don’t always agree. The work of pulling in different perspectives means that how we see reality is itself a negotiation, drawing on our different backgrounds. For example, one of the issues where Eric and I ...
China and the High Stakes Showdown in the DR Congo
Chinese mining bosses for years played the game as everyone else in the DR Congo. Money pretty much solved every problem. Need a permit? Pay some money. Get in trouble with the law? Pay some money. Under-counting cobalt reserves? Pay some money.
The Global Marketplace Versus the Global South
This week The Guardian carried two articles about China’s growing influence in the Pacific Island region. The first, under the headline “Pacific Plunder,” highlights how China imports more wood, fish, and minerals from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and elsewhere than any other major ...
Kenyatta Urges African, Caribbean Leaders to “Wake Up” on COVID and Debt Issues
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta used his opening address at a virtual summit of African and Caribbean leaders on Wednesday to issue an urgent plea to fellow leaders that they have to "wake up" to the challenges presented by the pandemic and the worsening debt crisis ...
Why Is the Kenyan Government Determined to Hide Its Chinese Loan Contracts?
A growing number of Kenyans are becoming increasingly incensed with Attorney General (AG) Kihara Kariuki for his determination to challenge activists’ demands in court for disclosure of the $3.2 billion Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contract with China. The move didn’t go down well with ...
China’s Improbable Resource Bonanza in Afghanistan
By Lukas Fiala and Hugo Jones, China Foresight LSE IDEAS Over the past week, the crisis in Afghanistan continued to push all else to the periphery. China and Russia abstained from a United Nations Security Council resolution requiring the Taliban ...
Why the Myanmar-China New Passage is Potentially a Very Big Deal For Africa
China successfully completed its first test run of an important sea-road-rail trade route that connects the Port of Yangon in Myanmar to the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu in southern China. A shipment arrived from Singapore at the capital ...