Author: Cobus van Staden
Dr. Cobus van Staden is an accomplished scholar, journalist, and think tank analyst with more than 20 years of experience in Africa and Asia. Previously, he was the senior China-Africa researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) in Johannesburg. Cobus completed his Ph.D. in Japanese studies and media studies at the University of Nagoya in Japan in 2008. He focused on comparisons of Chinese and Japanese public diplomacy in Africa during postdoctoral positions at the University of Stellenbosch and the SARCHI Chair on African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg before joining the Department of Media Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2013. His academic research focused on media coverage of the China-Africa and Japan-Africa relationships, as well as the use of media in public diplomacy in the Global South.
Related Posts
China’s Top Diplomat for Africa Appointed as Ambassador to South Africa
Wu Peng, China’s new ambassador-designate, arrived in South Africa on Monday. His appointment is the latest example of high-powered diplomats with continent-wide experience becoming the PRC’s envoys to Pretoria. Before he took up the ambassadorship, Wu was the Director-General of the ...
Sniping Between China and Philippines Following Ship Collision
Tensions in the South China Sea are high following Monday’s collision between a Chinese coast guard vessel and a Philippine supply ship. The details of the incident are still at issue. It’s the latest in a series of standoffs between China’s Coast ...
Graph of the Day: The Fall in Chinese Infrastructure Funding in Southeast Asia
A new report by the Australian research body the Lowy Institute maps a sharp decline in Chinese infrastructure funding to Southeast Asia, partly due to the COVID pandemic. However, the authors said "ongoing projects mean Beijing looks set to remain the dominant infrastructure financier in the region." ...
BRICS Foreign Ministers Decry Sanctions, Call for Gaza Ceasefire
Foreign ministers from the BRICS group, including the new member countries that joined the group of emerging powers last year, released a joint statement following their meeting in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday. The statement provided the first comprehensive ...
Philippine President Ramps Up Rhetoric as Local Attitudes Harden
The President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., told soldiers to be ready for any conflict amid a potential overlap of his country’s tensions with China in the South China Sea and growing tensions between China and Taiwan. Speaking to troops at ...
Pakistan PM Promises Security in Appeal to Chinese Investors
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is in China this week for his first visit after taking the helm in March. His visit will include a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in order to “jointly draw a blueprint” for China-Pakistan relations, according to the Chinese Foreign ...
On Unearned Wins and the Future of the Liberal International Order
Chinese President Xi Jinping this week provided a lesson in how to get the maximum international gain by doing the bare minimum. In his speech at the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, he said the Israel-Gaza war “should not continue indefinitely” and “justice should not be absent forever.” ...
Xi to Host Arab Leaders This Week Amid Gaza Crisis
China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that President Xi Jinping will host the leaders of four Arab countries this week, as Beijing hosts the tenth China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) ministerial meeting on Thursday. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa ...
Zimbabwe Agreement Could Signal China’s Return to African Rail
TransTech, a subsidiary of China Railway Group, reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state-owned National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) that could lead to a recapitalization of the country’s railway network. Bloomberg reports that the agreement is currently limited to studying ...
Japan-Kenya Loan Deal Shifts Chinese Influence
Japan will reportedly provide about $107 million in bilateral loans to Kenya for port, water, and electricity infrastructure, to be implemented from next week. The deal signals a stronger role for Japan as an external partner to the continent amid G7 anxieties about China’s influence.
The Infrastructure Cold War
This week, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee heard testimony about foreign investments channeled by the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), an agency founded in the late Trump era and key to the implementation of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), the Biden administration’s global infrastructure rollout ...
The Complications of Iran-China Relations
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to France provides an interesting moment to reflect on both the reality of China-Iran relations and how these are seen from the outside. European leaders like EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen see China as