FOCAC’s Powerful Optics Present a Challenge to China’s Rivals

FOCAC is for me what the Winter Olympics is for a curling fan – the one moment every few years when the world briefly shares one’s obsession. So it was interesting (and revealing) how relatively muted the coverage of the triennial meeting has been this time around. ...

Why Policymakers in the U.S. and Europe Should Feel Nervous After Xi’s FOCAC Speech

It's unlikely that many people in either Washington or Brussels paid that much attention to Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote address on Monday at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation conference. Except for news agencies like Reuters and Bloomberg, no major U.S. newspaper, news site, or television network ...

Congolese Superstar Cédric Bakambu May Say Adios to the Chinese Super League Now That Barcelona is Calling

Congolese forward and Chinese Super League Cédrioc Bakambu may be on his way back to Spain in 2022 when his contract expires with Beijing Guoan in December. There are widespread reports that the CSL's top scorer last year is once again being considered for a ...

In Phone Call With Macron, Xi Pursues Trilateral Development Cooperation in Africa

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on Tuesday that the European Union should pursue greater autonomy (presumably from the U.S.) in its foreign policy. The two leaders also discussed the upcoming COP26 climate ...

Which Way is West?

One of the fun aspects of the China-Africa Project is that we don’t always agree. The work of pulling in different perspectives means that how we see reality is itself a negotiation, drawing on our different backgrounds. For example, one of the issues where Eric and I ...

Josep Borrell’s Misguided Views on Chinese Vaccines in Africa

European Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell is really unhappy with how the bloc's member states have hoarded vaccines for themselves at the expense of developing countries in Africa and Latin America. On Friday he criticized the EU's contributions to those regions as "insufficient."

Why Does China Want to Cooperate With Europe in Africa?

What’s in a phone call? Well, when it’s from China’s leader to the presidents of Germany and France then maybe it's something beyond idle chit-chat. And, when it comes on the heels of the G7 summit which Xi Jinping dismissed as international politics of the past, then ...

In a Contentious G20 Meeting, Foreign Ministers Exchange Jabs About Jabs

Most of the foreign and development ministers from the Group of 20 gathered in Matera, Italy on Tuesday for the organization's first in-person meeting since 2019. China and Russia, however, were among the few who were noticeably absent from the forum.  ...

One French Scholar’s Widely Published Article This Week Encapsulates Every Anxiety About China’s Influence in Africa

The popular perception of China's steadily growing presence in Africa has long been viewed with skepticism among France's political, media, and academic elites who have historically regarded the continent, particularly francophone countries, as a traditional sphere of influence. Most analysis and ...

Vaccines and the Changing International Order

The Chief Reporter for Germany's state broadcaster Deutsche Welle, Miodrag Soric, can't believe what he's seeing. China is turning the battle for access to COVID-19 vaccines into a tremendous soft power win in the Global South -- and they're doing it at the expense of the West!

The UK Invests More in Africa Than Either the U.S. or China

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was among the featured guests at Wednesday's online Africa Investment Conference organized by the UK Department for International Trade. The conference was a follow-up to last year's UK-Africa Investment Summit that took place in London. One ...

Africa’s Asian Decade

In today’s China-Africa Daily Brief email newsletter we showcased an article by the analyst and former Liberian Public Works Minister, Gyude Moore, arguing that the pandemic-induced economic crisis will lock in Chinese influence in Africa for at least a decade. He argues ...
Page 4 of 51345