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: construction
It’s Been a Big Week for Chinese Infrastructure Development in Africa
Two U.S. cabinet secretaries are currently touring Africa to fulfill President Joe Biden's promise that the United States is "all in" when it comes to bolstering ties with countries across the continent. A key part of the message that Treasury Secretary Janet ...
Massive New Chinese-financed Cultural Center Takes Shape in Kinshasa
Three years after Chinese contractors broke ground to build the new Central African Cultural and Arts Center in the DR Congo capital of Kinshasa, the 36,000-square-meter development is now taking shape. Outgoing Chinese ambassador to the DRC, Zhu Jing,
New Undersea Cable Will Link China to a Trio of Countries in Southeast Asia
Six telecom carriers from four countries in Asia signed an agreement to build a new regional undersea high bandwidth cable. The $300 million Asia Link Cable system will stretch 6,000 kilometers from southern China to the Philippines, Brunei and Singapore.
China Harbour Completes Construction of West Africa’s Largest Deep Water Port in Nigeria
The state-owned China Harbour Engineering Company completed construction of the $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Sea Port near Lagos and officially handed over the facility to its Nigerian partners. Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the new port will generate 200,000 jobs ...
One of China’s Largest BRI Builders Faces Economic Headwinds at Home
Business is booming for the China Communications Construction Company. It is one of the world's largest construction companies and built many of China's iconic BRI projects, including the controversial Port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka and the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya. Signed contracts jumped 22% in ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Xi Bets on Global South in Moscow
Mnangagwa Says He’ll Send a Plane to China to Bring Back Engineers So They Can Finish Critical Infrastructure Projects
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he's willing to send charter planes to China to bring back engineers and other high-skilled infrastructure experts to Zimbabwe so they can finish critical infrastructure projects. The President made the offer during a tour of the ...
Chinese Contractors to Finish Building New Africa CDC HQ Ahead of Schedule
Chinese contractors are now three-quarters of the way done with the new headquarters of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa with construction running ahead of schedule. The new 90,000 square meter facility is ...
China, Kenya Cut the Ribbon on Hugely Important Infrastructure Financing Experiment
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, together with Ambassador Zhou Pingjian, officially commissioned the $650 million Nairobi Expressway on Sunday. The project is gearing up to be the most important infrastructure financing test underway in Africa today. The 27-kilometer expressway was built and ...
China, Cambodia Deny Washington Post Report of New PLA Navy Base
Chinese and Cambodian officials were quick to dismiss a Washington Post report this week that claimed the Chinese are building a new base at the Ream naval base in Preah Sihanouk province. "Cambodia won’t allow the Chinese military to use it ...
Kenya’s New Nairobi Expressway is Popular. Its Tolls? Not So Much
It's been a week since Kenya's Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway opened to the public. The road itself is very popular, but comments on Twitter make clear that users aren't in love with the cost of accessing the road. The road is a