The BRICS group wrapped up its two-day leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. The summit’s final communique is a 16,000-word doorstop that covers numerous issues from economics to education.
The communique avoids any direct mention of the United States, and references to “unilateralism” and other coded criticism are also relatively scarce. Rather, the communique keeps the focus on the BRICS’ vision of the strengthening and reform of the global multilateral system ...
Category: Aid
Eyes Turn to China as the West Steps Back From Development
By Tim Hirschel-Burns With the notable exception of the United States, all other 192 members of the United Nations agreed on an agenda for financing the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs). In important respects, the agreement on the
New Zealand Cuts Aid to Cook Islands Over China Deal
New Zealand has paused $18.2 million in development aid to the Cook Islands because of a recent cooperation agreement with China. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who is on an official visit to Beijing this week, said the small state didn’t consult New Zealand about the “breadth and ...
New Zealand Halts Aid to Cook Islands Over China Deals
New Zealand's government halted aid to close partner the Cook Islands on Thursday because of a row over agreements the Pacific island nation struck with China. New Zealand "paused" the payments and would not resume them until the Cook Islands took ...
What Canada Can Learn From China on Effectively Engaging With Africa
By Isaac Odoom Canada’s recent launch of a new Africa Strategy comes at a moment of profound geopolitical change and growing shifts in global development co-operation. As the Western-led order and development model face increasing scrutiny, ...
Is It Possible to Work With China for Development?
By You Xiaoying Some 10,000 kilometers from the rolling tea fields of eastern China, tea farmers in Kenya are fighting climate change using Chinese know-how. From planting trees to organically fertilising, tea plantations in the ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Is It Possible to Work With China for Development?
By You Xiaoying Some 10,000 kilometers from the rolling tea fields of eastern China, tea farmers in Kenya are fighting climate change using Chinese know-how. From planting trees to organically fertilising, tea plantations in the ...
China’s Quake Relief a Messaging Win
The first batch of Chinese emergency aid arrived in Myanmar on Monday. By then, Chinese rescue teams were on the ground in Myanmar and Thailand, and they had rescued six people. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun framed the response as a sign of China’s regional commitment: ...
China’s Rapid Response to Myanmar Quake Contrasts With U.S. Absence
China moved quickly this weekend to respond to the devastating earthquake in neighboring Myanmar that killed at least 1,700 people. More than 200 emergency personnel from across China along with dozens of others from Hong Kong and the Chinese Red Cross Society were ...
How the United States’ Diplomatic Pullback in Africa Creates New Openings for China
As the United States continues its efforts to counter China’s growing influence across the Global South, recent budget cuts from the Trump administration—and the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk—have delivered a major blow to USAID and now threaten American diplomacy more broadly. ...
Bridges, Yes, Bandages, No: China Won’t Fill America’s Aid Shoes
By Felix Brender 王哲謙 If former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson thought a week was a long time in politics, a single day in Trump’s America now feels like a political eon. This column was originally meant to dissect the implications of ...
Why China Won’t Replace Western Aid
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s sudden withdrawal of U.S. foreign assistance will endanger about 300 million people. The collapse of U.S. foreign assistance (and cuts announced in Europe) raised questions about whether China will fill the ...
Trump, China, and the Big, Baffling World
Amid the upheavals of Donald Trump’s first weeks back as U.S. president, a key point of overlap between his shredding of the Atlantic partnership and his ending of U.S. foreign assistance to the developing world has been largely ignored: the impact of these choices’ impact ...