Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
There’s New Impetus in the U.S. To Get China Out of the Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chain. It Won’t Be Easy.
The electric vehicle battery start-up SPARKZ announced this week that it will build a new 4.5-hectare factory in the rural U.S. state of West Virginia. The new facility will employ 350 workers, mostly former coal miners, in what will become a critical test for Washington's desire ...
Date for CCP’s 20th Party Congress Set, What Developing Countries Should Expect in the Meantime
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced an earlier-than-expected date for its highly anticipated 20th Party Congress when President Xi Jinping will be appointed to an unprecedented third term in office. The Party's Central Committee said the once-every-five-year gathering ...
India Ramps Up Language on Taiwan as Tensions with China Rise
India has accused China of the ‘militarization of Taiwan Straits.’ The tweet, issued by the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka, is a marked escalation of the combative language between the two and from India’s relatively muted response when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in early ...
Japan Pledges $30 billion in Funding at Africa Summit
Japan will extend $30 billion in funding to aid African development. This is the major outcome of the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, which took place in Tunisia this weekend. Speaking virtually, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged funding across several cooperation ...
Moving Beyond Blocs and Embracing Global Modes of Knowledge
By Lukas Fiala and Hugo Jones Over the past week, we’ve been reading the MERICS paper “Beyond Blocs: Global views on China and US-China relations”. Its authors write on the context-specific relations that Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, ...
IMF Visit Adds Pressure on China to Support Sri Lanka Debt Restructuring
A team from the International Monetary Fund is in Sri Lanka for the second time in three months to discuss debt restructuring amid calls for China to align itself with the country’s other creditors. Sri Lanka’s new President Ranil Wickremesinghe said: "We have ...
How China’s Record Heat Wave Could Have a Catastrophic Impact on Developing Countries
The consequences of the devastating heat wave in China, the worst in recorded history, could be catastrophic for the world's poorest countries that are already grappling with surging inflation, food and fuel shortages. 260 ...
Mechanisms for ‘Telling Chinese Stories Well’: Chinese Influence on Foreign Media
By James Sundquist The “Rise of China” is one of the great stories of this century. But how is this story told? Is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) about South-South cooperation or debt-trap diplomacy? How much attention should be paid ...
How do Africans View Zambia’s Debt Restructuring Deal? Two Researchers Weigh In
This article features back-to-back responses by two African researchers on Zambia's debt restructuring deal. Response 1: By Amodani Gariba Zambia is not in the hot water alone. Several African countries are currently at risk of ...
Both Xi and Putin to Attend Upcoming G20 Summit Says Host Indonesia
Speculation over President Xi Jinping's re-emergence on the international stage gained new energy late Friday with word that the Chinese leader would attend the November G20 leaders summit in Indonesia. Andi Widjajanto, former cabinet secretary and unofficial adviser to President Joko ...
How Will the Debt Crisis Affect China’s Image as a Development Partner?
By Lukas Fiala As the debt crisis across the Global South accelerates, many commentators are weighing in on the drivers and implications of repayment difficulties and defaults. Unsurprisingly, as a major bilateral creditor to many governments across the developing world, China is ...
DRC Prime Minister to Intervene in Cobalt Dispute
Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, will host new negotiations between the state mining company Gecamines and the giant Chinese cobalt miner China Molybdenum (CMOC). The intervention is aimed at breaking the deadlock between the two, due ...