Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
How Would a Trump Presidency Compete with China in the Global South?
By Lukas Fiala With Kamala Harris’ campaign gathering pace over the past week, the race for the U.S. presidency is now more open than just a couple of weeks ago. And yet, with the specter of Trump 2.0 looming over policy ...
Attention Shifts to Chinese Debt Following Ethiopia’s IMF, World Bank Deals
This week, the Ethiopian government struck a pair of deals with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank that will pave the way to restructure the country's $29 billion external debt, a quarter of which is owed to Chinese creditors.
“We Need to Do More” to Challenge China in the Global South, Says Washington’s No. 2 Diplomat
The second in command at the U.S. State Department told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the United States has to step up to compete more effectively with China around the world. China is the "defining geopolitical challenge confronting ...
U.S. Will Reportedly Increase Military Funding to the Philippines
This week’s joint visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to Manila will reportedly see the announcement of $500 million in additional military funding to the Philippines to bolster its defenses, and a possible new military pact between the countries.
Falling Through the Net? The Perils of Relying on Central Bank Swaps for Global Crisis Finance
By Laurissa Mühlich, Thomas Goda, and Marina Zucker-Marques Since the 2008 global financial crisis, central bank swaps have emerged as an increasingly important pillar of the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN), the network of institutions and arrangements that aim at ...
The Philippines Turns off the Cameras in the South China Sea
This weekend dashed any hopes that tensions between China and the Philippines over territorial disputes in the South China Sea would ease following an agreement reached last week. The deal, which concerned resupply missions to the ageing World War II-era warship ...
China and the Gaza Crisis
In case you needed your geopolitical optics even starker than usual, this week rushed to comply. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi watched as representatives of fourteen Palestinian movements, including Hamas and Fatah, signed the Beijing Declaration.
Widespread Skepticism Emerges in Response to Beijing-Brokered Palestinian Reconciliation Deal
Chinese state media moved quickly after Beijing brokered a Palestinian national unity deal that it portrayed as another example of its increasingly prominent role as Mideast mediator. The "Beijing Declaration" was widely seen as a breakthrough as it brought together 14 ...
In Fuel-Guzzling Saudi Arabia, Chinese Electric Cars Pique Interest
By Haitham El-Tabei For Hamed al-Rafidain, a Saudi human resources worker, an electric vehicle offers welcome savings, especially since his other car is a fuel-guzzling four-wheel drive favored by motorists in the desert kingdom. The ...
Q&A: Beijing Deal for Post-War Gaza Leaves Analysts Skeptical
By Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire and Louis Baudoin-Laarman Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement has agreed with Hamas to form a "national unity government" in post-war Gaza, but analysts are skeptical about the significance of the Beijing-brokered deal. ...
Off Ecuador’s Galapagos, a Former Chinese Shark-Poaching Ship’s New Mission
By Enrique Ortiz When Ecuador's navy seized a Chinese-flagged ship off the Galapagos Islands in 2017, its hold brimmed with tons and tons of poached fish, many of them threatened species like hammerhead and thresher sharks.
3 Reasons Why China, Philippines Chose to Strike a Deal on Reef Resupply Missions
For more than a year now, we've been discussing the steadily intensifying conflict between the Philippines and China over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea and how the two sides have failed to create any policy off-ramps that would allow them to de-escalate their feud. ...