Related Posts

China-Africa and the Cost of Unused Talent

When it comes to the China-Africa story, most people first think about infrastructure. Those who follow it more closely might think of diplomacy. But China-Africa relations is also a story about hundreds, maybe even thousands, of African students trained in China through scholarships and bilateral partnerships.

How the U.S. Aims to Seize Control of Critical Congolese Minerals and Curb Chinese Expansion

By signing the strategic partnership agreement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United States achieved two key objectives in its critical minerals strategy: first, securing preferential access to copper, cobalt, zinc, gold, and other minerals considered strategic; and second, establishing a regulatory framework ...

China Moves from Infrastructure to Legal Influence in Africa

Prosecutors and representatives from twelve African countries — Ethiopia, Algeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe — gathered in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, on October 29, 2025, for the second China-Africa Prosecutorial Cooperation Forum. The meeting’s theme, ...

China, Zambia and Tanzania Seal $1.4 Billion Deal to Modernize Tazara Railway

More than a year after a memorandum of understanding was signed in Beijing, China, Zambia and Tanzania have finalized an agreement to rehabilitate and modernize the Tazara railway. Built by China in the 1970s, the strategic line links Zambia to Tanzania and runs to the port of ...

Congo Uses Cobalt Export Limits to Force Processing Deals With Chinese Miners

The Democratic Republic of Congo appears determined to leverage its negotiating power with Chinese and other mining companies to secure major concessions on local cobalt processing. That was the signal sent by Congolese Mines Minister Louis Watum, who said — according ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The G20 Summit and the Half-Life of a Joke

When it was announced in 2023 that the African Union would become a full member of the G20, I darkly joked on a podcast that the AU’s entry into the body could very well mark the moment the G20 lost its status as one of the most important global coordination forums. Mark my words, I said, soon The Economist will be like “Uhhh, the G20 is OVER – it’s the ...

China’s Biggest Cobalt Miner Faces a Harsh New Reality in DR Congo

The world’s leading exporter of cobalt, China’s CMOC Group, may turn out to be the biggest loser under the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s new export quota policy, which is set to replace the existing moratorium on cobalt shipments beginning in mid-October.

Stop Calling the Lobito Corridor a U.S. Gambit Against China

There’s a lazy but geopolitically irresistible allure in branding Angola’s Lobito Corridor as a U.S. bid to blunt China’s influence in Africa and the region’s mineral supply chains. I get why the framing sticks: it’s neat, dramatic, and easy to sell. ...

African Countries Should Stop Being Questioned About Their Diplomatic Engagements

No nation should have to defend its right to choose its own diplomatic partners. Yet, in recent years, African countries have increasingly been called to account whenever those partners happen to be China or Russia.  When President William Ruto of Kenya ...

A Display of Power, Not Partnership, in Washington

This is a is a long overdue column that I intended to write back in March after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa left Washington after that now infamous joint press conference in the Oval Office where he was ambushed by U.S. President Donald Trump for challenging the ...

Will China’s Trade Strategy in Africa Succeed Where Europe’s Didn’t?

At a recent ministerial meeting in the central Chinese city of Changsha, Beijing announced an ambitious new phase of its engagement with Africa: the possibility of eliminating customs duties on exports from all 53 African countries (except for Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan). While many ...

China’s New Mediation Body Courts the Global South on Dispute Resolution

A couple of weeks ago in Hong Kong, China quietly inaugurated the International Organization for Mediation (IoM), marking what may become a significant shift in global dispute resolution. Thirty-two countries from Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe attended the launch, underscoring Beijing’s ambition to build a ...

Canadian, Chinese Companies at Odds Over Impact of Seismic Activity on Congo Copper Mine

The Democratic Republic of Congo's Kamoa-Kakula copper mine, co-owned by China's Zijin Mining and Canada's Ivanhoe Mines, is at the center of a dispute following seismic activity that has temporarily halted underground operations. Zijin Mining reported multiple instances of roof falls ...
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