Google announced that it struck a global strategic partnership with Transsion, a Chinese maker of mobile phones beloved across the Global South. Together, the two will target emerging markets like Africa via cooperation on the Android operating system, online advertising, and Google Cloud services.
Transsion’s stock surged by 7.5% after the announcement. The company, famous for its Tecno, Itel, and Infinix phones, is by far the biggest seller in ...
Category: ASEAN
China, Russia, and Myanmar: Symptomatic of a Weakening ASEAN?
By Saniya Kulkarni According to reports the annual ASEAN summit, which takes place today in Phnom Penh, is prioritizing the issue of rising violence in member state Myanmar following the 2021 coup which resulted in a military junta displacing the elected government ...
Backgrounder: How Chinese Infrastructure is Reshaping ASEAN Trade
Even as China's territorial wrangles with some of its South China Sea neighbors show no sign of letting up, Chinese infrastructure is taking its trade relations with Southeast Asia to new levels. In particular, ambitious new land-sea corridors are credited for ...
Blinken Calls on China, ASEAN to Put Pressure on Mynamar Junta
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged China and members of the ten-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to collectively pressure the military government in Myanmar to return to democracy. "It is incumbent on China and in ...
Chinese State Media is Predictably Downbeat About the Summit
It is widely acknowledged that China will feature prominently during this week’s U.S.-ASEAN summit. For that reason, it’s interesting to track how the summit is being covered in the Chinese state press. The most prominent response so far was penned by ...
Which Issues will Dominate the U.S.-ASEAN Summit?
U.S. officials are coming to the ASEAN summit eager to emphasize the region’s importance, and to rebalance perceptions that it is currently mostly focused on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Cross-cutting issues like climate change are sure to occupy some of the ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Google to Partner with Transsion, China’s Phone Giant in Africa
Why Africans Should Keep an Eye on the U.S.-ASEAN Summit
Nobody would blame Africans for not focusing on this week’s summit between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN.) After all, the continent is dealing with a few prior priorities: creeping debt distress in key states largely ignored by the international community, ...
Biden-ASEAN Summit is Back On, Cue Chinese Complaints
A summit between the United States and the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian States (ASEAN) is back on. The White House announced that President Joe Biden will meet with leaders from the group on 12 and 13 May. This follows the recent ...
Against Debt Trap Allegations as Financial Crisis Worsens
As Sri Lankan society buckles under an economic crisis fueled in part by an enormous debt burden, China is pushing back against allegations that it stranded the desperate country in a ‘debt trap.’ Mass protests took place across ...
Japan Wants to Keep India in the Quad, Aims to Enlarge the China-Containing Bloc, Says Former PM
Keeping India in the Quad is crucial, even though New Delhi has so far refrained from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The Quad (short for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) is made ...
Countries Throughout Asia & The Americas Struggle to Find Balance Between the U.S. and China
Countries throughout the Global South have said repeatedly that they do not want to be forced to choose sides in the increasingly acrimonious relationship between the United States and China. But in some cases, they no longer have a choice. That's ...