Reflections on the legacy of Jiang Zemin, China’s president from 1993 to 2003, who passed away on Wednesday, emphasized how he presided over a decade of explosive economic growth. Fewer have pointed out that he was also a key architect of China’s current relationship with Africa.
After the Mao era, emblematized by Chinese involvement in African anti-colonial struggles, the relationship went dormant as China focused on building economic ties ...
Category: Europe
Ukraine Shows That China is Not Yet Ready to Head an Alternative World Order
By Lukas Fiala, Hugo Jones, and Chris Alden Russia’s steadily escalating war in Ukraine has shocked Europe’s post-Cold War security order to its core. Over the past week, we saw China’s party-state kicking into gear as ambassadors and spokespersons increasingly
Ghana Government Under Growing Pressure on Illegal Fishing
The European Union is putting pressure on Ghana to tackle illegal fishing in its waters, threatening its access to the lucrative European seafood market. In 2021, the EU issued a so-called yellow card, saying that if Ghana doesn’t improve fisheries management, it could face seafood-related sanctions.
A Visual Comparison of the Issues Address at the Two Sessions Foreign Minister Press Briefing
Africa, the Korean peninsula, and multilateralism are no longer prominent themes in the Foreign Minister's annual press briefing on the sidelines of the Two Sessions forum in Beijing. The Chinese state-run media outlet CGTN produced a visualization of the topics addressed ...
Sino-European Competition for Influence in Africa
It's only been a few weeks since the Europe-Africa summit in Brussels, EU where officials unveiled a huge €150 billion development package for Africa that aimed to convey a two-part message: 1) We're ready to engage Africa and 2) we're not going to cede further ...
Deconstructing Chinese Media Criticism of Western Engagement in Africa
Soon after the conclusion of the Europe-Africa Summit in Brussels last week, Chinese media and scholars began to weigh in with their analysis of the gathering which, not surprisingly, was decidedly negative. All week, there've been a number ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Jiang Zemin Created the Africa-China Relationship As We Know It Today
Surprise Surprise… Europe-Africa Summit Gets Poor Reviews in China
Last week's Europe-Africa summit largely passed unnoticed in China due largely to the fact that it coincided with the final days of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the extensive coverage related to the unfolding crisis in Ukraine. Now, though, some analysis ...
If the EU Really Wants to Challenge China in Africa, It’s Going to Have to Do Better
European leaders were all smiles on Friday at the end of a two-day summit in Brussels with their African counterparts which they hope will reset strained ties. The highlight of the summit was the announcement of a hugely ambitious $170 billion ...
Africa-Europe Summit Begins Amid Hope, Skepticism and a Wary Eye on China
European and African leaders kicked off a two-day summit in Brussels on Thursday amid a sense that ties between these two continents have reached a critical inflection point. European leaders, notably French President Emmanuel Macron, the current rotating president of the ...
EU-Africa Summit Set to Begin Amid a Rapidly Changing Geopolitical Landscape
African leaders have been arriving in Brussels all week in advance of the two-day Europe-Africa summit that begins tomorrow. But the timing of this year's gathering comes as some in Europe are bracing for what could be the continent's largest war since WWII and an increasingly contentious ...
German Construction Companies Struggle to Find a Way to Compete Against Chinese Rivals in Africa
European leaders have made it very clear in recent weeks that they intend to compete vigorously against Chinese rivals for a larger slice of the African infrastructure construction market. While that may sound nice, in practice it's going to be difficult. ...