Today is a public holiday in South Africa – Human Rights Day. There’s a certain irony in spending the day focusing on China’s President Xi Jinping’s visit to Vladimir Putin, knee-deep in a human rights disaster.
What one makes of the Ukraine crisis increasingly maps on where one lives. This is made clear by a remarkable new set of polling data recently published by the European Council on Foreign Relations ...
Category: Development
China Hints It May Not Back U.S. Nominee to Lead World Bank
Ajay Banga's candidacy to become the next president of the World Bank encountered turbulence when the Chinese government hinted that it would oppose his nomination. Banga spent the day in the Chinese capital on Wednesday, meeting with Finance Minister Liu Kun, ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Xi Bets on Global South in Moscow
World Bank Nominee Meets Head of China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
World Bank President-nominee Ajay Banga met with the head of the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on Wednesday during his brief trip to Beijing. The AIIB released a short statement after the meeting that said the two discussed "how the ...
Benin’s Finance Minister Meets With China Exim Bank President
Beninese Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni is in Beijing this week, where he met with China Exim Bank President Ren Shengjun. Neither side released details of the meeting, but it does highlight how China Exim Bank is continuing to engage African governments ...
New Foreign Ministry Annex in Ghana and a Newly Refurbished Parliament Building in Malawi Are China’s Latest “Gifts” to African Governments
Ghana's Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey was visibly excited to see what her new office will look like in the new $20 million foreign ministry annex building that will be entirely paid for by China. Botchwey was joined by the Chinese ambassador ...
China Announces Double-Digit Budget Increase for Diplomacy
China is sharply increasing its budget for diplomacy and influence-building around the world after three years of retreat from the world stage. The announcement of a 12.2% increase follows Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s recent comment that “Chinese ...
Ghanaian Students Returning from China Face Unique Challenges…and Opportunities
More African foreign students are studying in China than anywhere else in the world. But do these qualifications get them jobs back home? A new webinar series by the Afro-Sino Centre of International Relations (ASCIR) featuring the China-Trained African Professionals (CTAP) ...
Ajay Banga in Africa to Rally Support for World Bank Leadership Amid Stand-off With China
Ajay Banga, U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the World Bank, is on a ‘listening tour’ of Africa to drum up support for his nomination. Banga kicked off his visit to the continent in Ivory Coast and Kenya. As a veteran ...
India to Build Massive Hydropower Plant Near Contested Border With China
The Indian government will build a $3.9 billion hydroelectric power plant in Arunachal Pradesh, very close to the country's disputed border with China known as the Line of Actual Control. Environmentalists are condemning the $3.9 billion project saying the new 2,880-megawatt ...
And…That’s How It’s Done in the Congo: Chinese Mining Venture Settles $17 billion Claim With a $500 Million Check
Negotiators for the state-owned China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) finalized a deal with the Congolese government to pay for $500 million of new infrastructure this year. While that may sound like a lot of money, it's a lot less than ...
South Africa’s Decrepit Railway Infrastructure is Slowing Iron Ore Shipments to China
More than a million tons of South African iron ore is blocked from leaving the country, mostly bound for China, due to SA's failing railway infrastructure. The local unit of British-South African mining giant Anglo American, Kumba Iron ...
What the New Port of Lekki in Nigeria Tells Us About the Future of Chinese Infrastructure Finance in Africa
China is no longer in the game of providing African countries with enormous loans to finance large-scale infrastructure projects. In fact, BRI financing last year for projects in Africa plunged more than 50% to just $7.5 billion.