Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
Bangladesh to Apply for Membership to China-Centric Trade Group
Bangladesh will reportedly submit a formal request by September to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a China-led free trade community that represents about 30% of global GDP. The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial meeting on Tuesday. It now requires Cabinet approval, and ...
Reflections on a Summer in the United States
I'll be heading back to Vietnam this week after seven weeks in the U.S. -- the longest period I've spent in this country in almost 15 years. I'm so grateful to the hundreds of people who took the time to meet ...
G7 Climate Diplomacy — Sweet Words, but Just Debt and Delays for the Global South
The last few weeks have made two things clear. First, the heat waves hitting the Global North have hammered home (yet again) that climate change is getting faster and more dangerous by the day. Second, despite calls from U.S. climate czar John Kerry to separate climate issues from ...
Sri Lanka’s Creditors Push for Greater Chinese Participation in Debt Talks
Three of Sri Lanka’s largest lenders are calling for its debt restructuring process to be sped up and for China to support the process. Officials from India, Japan, and France, the three heads of Sri Lanka’s creditor committee, are also raising new forms of cooperation in a bid ...
Q&A: Untapped Opportunities In Indonesia’s Impact Tech Startups For Chinese Investors
Conversations around the China-Indonesia cooperation usually revolve around the big, flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects like the high-speed rail, the industrial parks, or nickel processing in Morowali and Weda Bay. But, development and sustainability can be driven by a ...
Xi Meets With Indonesia’s Jokowi in Summer Diplomacy Sprint
Chinese President Xi Jinping took advantage of the World University Games now underway in the southwestern province of Sichuan to meet with visiting Asian and African leaders, most notably Indonesia's Joko Widodo -- also known as Jokowi. The Indonesian president's ...
China Is Going Big in Algeria and We Should Pay Attention
By Lukas Fiala With most commentators and analysts playing a rhetorical game of hide and seek with Qin Gang, China’s now-former foreign minister, it’s easy to miss what really mattered over the past week and a half. One event we should ...
U.S. South America and Caribbean Commander Raises Alarm About China’s Influence
Gen. Laura Richardson, the head of the U.S. Army’s Southern Command, which oversees Central and South America, and the Caribbean, says China is enlarging its presence in the Western hemisphere. In a football metaphor-strewn interview with Newsweek, Richardson said: "They're on ...
Decoding Qin Gang’s Demotion: “He’s Either Dying or Under Discipline”
One month after Qin Gang made his last public appearance as foreign minister, China's top legislative body removed him from the post on Tuesday and re-appointed the country's most senior foreign policy official Wang Yi to the position. Despite rampant speculation over ...
Eco-Tourism in Thailand: The Case for Promoting Environmentally-Sensitive Travel to Chinese Visitors
China’s growing partnerships with Southeast Asia in the past decade, thanks largely to its Belt and Road Initiative championing the “China Dream', has attracted an influx of Chinese tourists into the region each year. Many Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia and Thailand, have even offered ...
Security, Infrastructure Lending Top Agenda of Wang Yi’s Four-Nation African Tour
The Communist Party of China's (CPC) top foreign policy official Wang Yi arrived in Johannesburg on Monday to represent Beijing in a two-day gathering of national security advisors from the five BRICS countries. This week's meeting in South Africa aims to ...
Who’s in Charge of China’s Foreign Policy, the Party or the State?
It's been 29 days since anyone saw Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in public. Why he's gone missing is anyone's guess. No one outside of a small number of elite Chinese leaders really knows what's going on, so beware of any speculation you read on Twitter or ...