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: Infrastructure
Ethiopians Dream of an Electric Car Future
By Dylan Gamba Kemeriya Mehammed Abduraheman set her sights on an electric car four months ago, joining more than 100,000 Ethiopians who have made the green switch. While electric vehicle (EV) sales in Africa accounted ...
China’s COMAC Seals Cambodia Deal For Up To 20 C909 Jets
China’s COMAC said Cambodia’s flag carrier signed a memorandum of understanding for 10 C909 jets, with options for 10 more. The agreement could become the aircraft’s largest overseas order. The signing took place in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Tuesday. COMAC ...
China and Pakistan Agree $7 Billion Rail Consortium
China and Pakistan reportedly agreed to create a $7 billion consortium to fund a joint railway project. The announcement also saw the unveiling of a four-year action plan to advance the next phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a major project in the Belt and Road ...
Beijing Drives New Rail Bridge Linking Thailand – Laos with China
China, Thailand, and Laos have agreed to accelerate the construction of a second Nong Khai–Vientiane rail bridge. This move underscores Beijing’s central role in reshaping Southeast Asia’s transport and trade routes. It is designed to carry trains directly from Thailand ...
The Evolving Role of China in Argentina’s Energy Transition
By Javier Lewkowicz Over the past decade, Chinese companies have played a fundamental role in the expansion of Argentina’s clean energy infrastructure, both through financing and direct participation in large projects. However, recent geopolitical and economic ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Stop Calling the Lobito Corridor a U.S. Gambit Against China
There’s a lazy but geopolitically irresistible allure in branding Angola’s Lobito Corridor as a U.S. bid to blunt China’s influence in Africa and the region’s mineral supply chains. I get why the framing sticks: it’s neat, dramatic, and easy to sell. ...
Lobito Corridor Not Intended to Counter China in Africa, Says New CEO
The Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) corridor is purely a commercial venture with “zero geopolitical considerations," said the new CEO, Nicholas Fournier, in an interview with the South China Morning Post newspaper. Fournier said the upgrade of the massive 1,800km-long railway that ends ...
Chinese Company Leads Africa’s First Cross-Border Standard Gauge Railway Expansion
China Railway Group Limited (CREC) is heading the construction of a new transfrontier rail line between Tanzania and Burundi. Construction of the Uvinza–Musongati line was officially inaugurated during a ceremony on Saturday. The 1,435-kilometer electrified line will provide landlocked Burundi ...
‘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 ...
CK Hutchison Executive Defends Delay in Panama Ports Deal
A top executive at CK Hutchison on Thursday brushed off the delay in offloading its Panama Canal ports as "not particularly troublesome", as the Hong Kong conglomerate reported its half-year earnings. The firm in March proposed the sale of its global ...
Cambodia’s New Chinese-Built Capital Airport Set to Open
Cambodian aviation authorities will conduct a final test flight on Friday at the country's massive new airport ahead of the official opening on September 9th. It took Chinese contractors five years to build the new facility that includes a stunning nine-ton, ...
China’s Lending to the Global South Has Been Growing More Commercial
By Yunnan Chen Development finance has been embattled of late. Aid cutbacks have raised alarm over financing for climate and development goals. The most notable example is the egregious dismantling of the US Agency for ...