Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
China’s Frenetic Diplomatic Push at the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Bali
Coverage of the G20 Foreign Ministers' meeting in Bali was dominated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's high-profile exit from the meeting and the first encounter since October between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. But the event also saw a flurry of Chinese diplomatic ...
Q&A: China’s DRC Envoy Says Beijing Open to Cooperate With U.S. in Congo
In 2021, Sino-Congolese relations were somewhat shaken when two major Chinese investments in the mining sector in D.R. Congo were questioned and investigated by NGOs and Congolese authorities. The Sicomines project was the target for some of this criticism. The ...
It’s Been a Downright Terrible Week For Two of China’s Most Important Mining Ventures in Africa
Two of China's largest and most important mining ventures in Africa, one in Guinea and the other in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, face the real possibility of being shut down after years of contentious relations with their local partners. ...
Kenya’s Latest Economic Data is a Warning to Other Developing Countries With Large Chinese Debts and Trade Deficits
Kenya’s National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) released grim new data this week that highlights the acute problems confronting developing countries with large Chinese trade deficits and debts, both of which increased substantially: TRADE: The country’s trade deficit with China surged ...
Great Changes Unseen in a Century (and Frequently Ignored Now)
Big things are happening in the world, but don’t expect me to tell you what they are. Like many South Africans, I’ve been a little distracted these days. The country’s notorious electricity situation has worsened to blackouts three times a ...
Can PGII Tell a Compelling Story?
By Hugo Jones and Lukas Fiala At this year’s G7 summit, a new acronym joined the ranks of competing development finance initiatives. Forget the B3W – the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) is the G7’s latest “joint offer to narrow ...
Q&A: How Will the G7’s PGII Differ from China’s BRI? An Expert Weighs In
Responses to the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII) have run the gamut from enthusiastic approval to strident condemnation. However, many have also raised questions about how the initiative will actually work. While the PGII is currently presented as an ...
The G7’s New Infrastructure Initiative Could Strengthen China’s Global South Game: Experts
The G7’s new Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII), a $600 billion plan to build infrastructure across the Global South and counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), could have the effect of improving how Chinese companies do business and could end up improving the BRI itself, ...
Shock and Dismay in South Africa After Discovery of “Slave-Like” Conditions in Chinese-owned Factory
South Africa's Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, was visibly shaken when describing the "inhumane and unspeakable conditions" in a plastics factory owned by a Chinese national that was raided by security forces on Monday. An informant tipped off immigration authorities that dozens of illegal workers were ...
One Day After the Announcement of PGII, Everyone has Questions
The G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII), announced on Monday, is the newest Western initiative aimed at countering the influence in the Global South of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI.) Perhaps predictably, the announcement drew sharp criticism from official ...
Lights On: Prospects for Renewable Energy in Southern Africa Amid Pandemic and Debt Distress
By Cecilia Springer and Magalie Masamba A November 2020 report found the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region could achieve full energy access and 53% renewable energy (RE) installed capacity by 2040 with an investment of nearly $53 billion.
China’s Overseas Fishing Fleet and the Global South
by Chris Alden and Sérgio Chichava While much of the Western attention is focused on the grey zone activities pursued by Chinese fishing fleets and their purported role in the strategic expansion of China’s interests in the South China Sea, less ...