In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...
Category: Academy
How China Really Secures Its Loans to Developing Countries
The "debt trap" meme claims that China is intentionally lending vast sums of money to poor developing countries in Africa, and elsewhere, with the express intent to seize physical assets in those countries when they inevitably can't repay their debts.
The Evolution of China-Africa Research and Where It’s Headed
A new generation of scholars is reshaping China-Africa research. More geographically diverse and digitally fluent than the field’s early pioneers of the 2000s, this cohort brings fresh perspectives and tools to the study of China’s engagement on the continent.
Startup in Malawi Bets on Chinese Tech to Power an EV Shift
For years, Malawi, the world’s fourth-poorest country, has suffered from chronic fuel shortages. However, in a sunbaked workshop on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe, a team of local electric vehicle (EV) technicians is working to overcome this anomaly. Huddled around ...
Model Meets Reality: The Africa–China Export Forecast That Delivered
In an era where economic uncertainty often renders forecasts obsolete before they materialize, Africa’s export performance to China between 2022 and 2026 stands out as a compelling exception. Projections that I made together with Professor Reon Matemane, an associate professor at the University of Pretoria, in ...
Tracking China’s Dominance of the Transition Minerals Trade
U.S. and European leaders often talk about the importance of building China-free supply chains for transition minerals and other critical resources. While, for a lot of people, that may resonate among their constituents at home, the reality is that it's not ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Kenyan-Chinese Robotics Partnership Breaking AI and STEM Barriers for Schoolchildren
China is the world’s factory, but for one Kenyan company, it has become more than just a source of goods—it is a gateway to affordable technology for education. Afribot Robotics, a Nairobi-based firm specializing in STEM education, discovered this advantage ...
Tracking Chinese Mineral Engagement Along the Belt and Road
China’s centrality in the global critical minerals sector is frequently bemoaned in Western capitals, but what’s less understood is how China got there. A new report by AidData, a research center at the College of William and Mary, came out this week and tracks mineral-related deals ...
[Seminar] Kompetisi Energi Baru: Jejak Industri China pada Nikel Indonesia
Tanggal: 15 Nopember, 2024 Waktu: 10:00-11:15 (WIB) Lokasi: Virtual (Zoom, Publik) Daftar disini: https://tinyurl.com/CGSPNikel ...
Discontent Shadows Kenya’s Biggest Chinese-Funded Solar Power Project
Although the community initially agreed to the plant and were paid for their land, Abdi says that without the other promised benefits, they now regret their decision.
Chinese, African Perspectives on the FOCAC Summit
This year's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit comes at a critical time for governments in both regions. While China is embroiled in an increasingly contentious great power duel with the United States, African governments are under mounting economic and social ...
Who Gets to Tell the Africa-China Story?
So much of the framing of Chinese engagement in Africa is done through the prism of Western media, academia, government, and civil society. Stories about debt traps, malign influence, and exploitation are all firmly embedded in the larger discourse about Africa's ...
New IMF Report Takes the Pulse of Rapidly Changing China-Africa Economic Trends
Talks are underway between African and Chinese negotiators over the agenda for the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit that will take place later this year in Beijing. But this year's FOCAC is going to be very different than previous ...