After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...
Category: Africa
‘If You Want to Get Rich, Build a Road.’ Testing China’s Theory in Africa
There's a Chinese proverb that says, “If you want to get rich, build a road first.” That philosophy has guided China's development strategy in Africa for much of the past 25 years, that's led to the construction of more than 100,000km ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Murder of Chinese Farm Owner in Zambia Shocks Nation, Sparks Unprecedented Outcry in China
In what has become one of the most widely followed cases of a Chinese citizen murdered in Africa to date, the killing of 57-year-old Chinese farm owner Ms. Shi in Zambia has sparked nationwide outrage and soul-searching across China. Unlike previous cases that circulated mainly within ...
New Video Surfaces of Congolese Soldiers Beating Miners at the Behest of Chinese Nationals
The Congolese human rights NGO Justicia Asbl released a shocking video on Sunday that was purportedly recorded on July 23rd, showing Congolese FARDC soldiers beating a trio of local miners with their hands bound at the behest of Chinese nationals. The incident ...
Eswatini Builds Dam With Chinese Firm Despite Taiwan Ties
In a notable show of pragmatism, Eswatini, the only African country that maintains formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, is working with Sinohydro, one of China’s largest state-owned construction firms.
Congo’s “La Sape” Fashion Culture Through the Unlikely Lens of a Chinese Vlogger
A newly released 2.5-hour documentary titled The Fashion Bible by Chinese travel vlogger and former state media journalist Zhang Jun, known online as “Uncle Bing” (饼叔), has quietly dropped on the Chinese social video platform Bilibili, offering one of the most ideologically layered explorations yet of ...
Lithium Prices Are Crashing, But Some Producers Are Doubling Down. Why?
There is a puzzling shift unfolding in the global lithium market. Prices have collapsed by over 70% from their 2022 highs to around $12,000 per tonne, and yet, against all market logic, some Chinese lithium giants are not retreating. Instead, ...
Lessons for Europe From China’s Critical Minerals Strategy in Africa
While the U.S., India, and countries in the Persian Gulf are all moving quickly to establish new critical mineral supply chains, the European Union is struggling to follow suit, particularly in Africa. The EU currently lacks a cohesive policy framework that ...
Modi Visits Ghana to Strengthen Ties as India Seeks to Rival China in Africa
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ghana's President John Mahama agreed on Wednesday to deepen security and mining ties during the first visit by an Indian leader in three decades. Resource-rich Ghana, seen as a beacon of democratic stability in Africa, ...
India’s Modi Visits Ghana en Route to BRICS Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due in Ghana on Wednesday, the first Indian leader to visit the cocoa-rich country in three decades as the Asian nation competes with China and Russia for economic influence in Africa. He is scheduled to hold ...
Egypt, China Sign Big Chemical Factory Deal
Egypt has signed a deal with China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) and East China Engineering Science and Technology Co. for a $658 million industrial complex that will focus on the production of phosphoric acid. The plant will use locally extracted phosphate ore.
Top Chinese Party School Official Visits Nigeria as Part of the CPC’s Africa Outreach
A top official from the Chinese Communist Party's influential Central Party School visited Nigeria last week as part of a broader effort to deepen the CPC's ties in the region. Party School Vice President Gong Weibin met with Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe, head ...
Analysts Doubt Congo’s Cobalt Export Restrictions Will Do Much to Boost Prices in the Long Term
The Democratic Republic of the Congo extended a four-month export ban on cobalt exports in a bid to further constrain supply and boost prices of the critical metal that's used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries. The government hopes that by keeping additional ...
Standard Bank Becomes First African Bank to Offer China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System
China's alternative to the SWIFT international payment network is now available in Africa, following the announcement by Standard Bank, the continent's largest bank in terms of assets, as the first institution to offer the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS). This is ...