Related Posts

The Wider Implications of Europe’s Quest for African Natural Gas”?

It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that one of the most important tools for making it through these times is a capacity for grim amusement.  Without it, one would simply be crushed by something like the recent UN climate reports which correctly pointed ...

China’s Foreign Ministry Refutes Kenya Loan Rumors

Wu Peng, the top diplomat for Africa in China’s Foreign Ministry, denied that Kenya missed a payment on its Standard Gauge Railway loan. Wu Peng is the Director-General of African Affairs in the Foreign Ministry. His comment was a rare intervention from the Ministry in a loan controversy.

Kenyan Avocado Exports to China Gather Speed

A 24-ton shipment of Kenyan avocados arrived in China’s Guangzhou harbor this week. It took years for Kenyan producers to clear import protocols, but the shipment shows that China is finally moving forward with its pledge to increase agricultural imports from Africa via so-called ‘green lanes.’ The importer ...

U.S. Plans to Bypass China’s Cobalt Dominance with Arizona Plant

The Singapore-based commodities trader Trafigura announced it will partner with the U.S. battery metals processing firm EVelution to build a battery-grade cobalt sulfate processing facility in Arizona.  The facility is projected to produce 7,000 tons of cobalt sulfate by 2027, an estimated 40% of ...

Taiwanese Troops to Serve in Somaliland

For the first time, the disputed African region of Somaliland will be included in 14 countries and territories that will host Taiwanese soldiers as part of an alternative directive that allows them to do their national military service overseas. Somaliland has been lobbying for independence from Somalia, ...

China’s Messaging to Africa on Xinjiang in Action

The meeting this week between a group of African journalists and Wu Peng, China’s top diplomat to Africa, became an example of how Chinese government officials use direct engagement with reporters as a messaging tool. China has cultivated support in the Global ...

China’s Lending Will Be Demand-Driven: Ambassador

China will not promote loan-supported projects to the Global South but will be led by recipient country demand. This was one of the takeaways from a recent interview with China’s ambassador to Kenya, Zhou Pingjian. His comments included hints of China's emerging, more cautious ...

Does China Want Africa to “Choose Sides”? Maybe a Little Bit

China often assures African countries that they won’t be made to ‘choose sides’ in a new cold war. However, a recent op-ed by a prominent Africa-focused think tanker makes clear that Beijing increasingly sees the continent as a stage for geopolitical competition.  Yao ...

Africa’s Cynical Democrats Face the Development Dilemma

The Biden administration frames its fight with China for influence in the Global South as a struggle between democracy and autocracy. Both sides argue that their systems boost development. The result is that Africa's development space is increasingly clogged with geopolitics.  The prominent ...

Exposed: The Asian Companies Ruining West Africa’s Forests

West and Central Africa house some of the world’s last remaining old-growth rainforests. Asian timber companies are now driving widespread irresponsible logging, leaving ruined ecosystems in their wake.  However, simply blaming ‘China’ for this destruction is unrealistic. The environmental platform Mongabay recently published ...

Kenya’s New Transport Secretary Criticizes Previous Government’s Deals with China

This week’s confirmation hearing for Kenya’s new Transport Secretary included some revealing details about prominent Chinese projects like the recently inaugurated Nairobi Expressway. Kipchumba Murkomen reacted to widespread complaints about the tolls charged to use the road, a key part of its public-private partnership funding agreement with China Road and ...

Kenya Wants to Stretch Rail Loan Repayment Window to 50 Years

Kenya hopes to renegotiate the loan for its Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway to be repayable over fifty years, the country’s incoming Transport Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, said during his confirmation hearing this week.  “We are choked by loans,” he said and argued a ...
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