Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
The China Development Bank’s Debt Deferral in Zambia is a Good Start, But It’s Not Enough
The China Development Bank's (CDB) announcement yesterday that it will allow Zambia to push back an interest payment that was due last Sunday to next April was an unexpected development. After all, we haven't seen China's powerful policy banks publicly demonstrate ...
If Europe Wants to Remain Relevant in Africa, It Has to Show Up
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, declared this week that 2021 is going to be “the Africa year for the European Union!” Yes, this is the same Josep Borrell who back in March
Let’s Call It… China’s Won the Vaccine Diplomacy Contest
The White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows admitted this weekend what many of us have known for a long time: that the United States has all but given up in the fight against COVID-19. “We’re not going to control the pandemic,” Meadows told CNN's ...
China’s Input Ensured the Elimination of Schistosomiasis from Zanzibar’s Pemba Island
The WHO and the Tanzanian government have heralded a Chinese project to combat schistosomiasis in Pemba island, Zanzibar, which ran from 2016 until this year. Its successful implementation of good practices like broad-based cooperation and its flexible project design to accommodate local specificities might have received more ...
The China-Mediterranean Observer: In Forging Closer Ties With China, Iran Wants to Avoid Past Mistakes
As per usual, the articles published by the wider Mediterranean region’s media offer interesting insights into how China is perceived. Among the most valuable ones, we found commentaries published in Iran that further shed light on the local perception of the much-discussed new cooperation agreement between Beijing ...
Nigeria’s Dreams and Nightmares
Earlier this month, the Nigerian opposition politician Peter Obi delivered the 60th Founder’s Day lecture at the University of Nigeria. In his talk he took a swipe at the incumbent government’s handling of the current economic crisis, saying that instead of taking loans from China, Nigeria ...
U.S.-China Technology “Cold War”: Exploring Africa’s Options
In 2019, Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, and Jack Ma, co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba, visited several African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Ethiopia, where they met and interacted with African tech-Savvy youths. The two ‘Jacks’ represent two different paradigms of technology, ...
When It Comes to the G20’s DSSI, China’s Playing by a Different Set of Rules
There's an enormous disconnect between how the Chinese are approaching the debt crisis in poor countries and the expectations of the world's legacy donors. People like World Bank President David Malpass seem befuddled as to why China is not fully supporting ...
China’s Bumbling Debt Communications Hurts Africa
Even though China is a central actor in the burgeoning African debt crisis, it's often hard to tell. Chinese stakeholders in this unfolding drama are notoriously silent when it comes to communicating their positions and signaling to the markets and other governments as to what their intentions ...
Twenty Years of FOCAC
It was mostly overshadowed by the debt crisis in places like Zambia, but last week saw a major milestone in China-Africa relations. It was the twentieth anniversary of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). In some ways, FOCAC kicked off a sea change in Africa’s position in ...
Q&A: Liberia’s Decision to Deny Fishing Permits to 6 Chinese Super Trawlers “Sends a Powerful Message”
After months of deliberations, Liberia's National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) announced last week that it would deny permits to six Chinese super-trawlers to fish in its territorial waters. The trawlers arrived earlier this year and immediately sparked widespread concern that their ability to catch 12,000 metric ...
The New U.S. Plan to Challenge Huawei is Dead on Arrival in Africa
The United States is stepping up its efforts to try and contain Chinese tech companies like Huawei with a new development financing program that aims to persuade countries in places like Africa to avoid using equipment made by the telecom giant. ...