China’s Vice President Han Zheng addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday. Along with retreads of established Chinese positions on Taiwan, Ukraine, and the Israel/Palestine conflict, his comments also provided interesting clues about China’s messaging to the Global South.
First, he called on the international community to “follow the direction of a multipolar world” with the UN at its center. I wonder how opinion within Beijing’s inner circles breaks down around the bipolarity/multipolarity issue, considering ...
Category: Global Gateway
Re-Election of China’s Man at the Food & Agriculture Organization Could Reverberate in the Global South
By Felix Brender Earlier this month, China’s Qu Dongyu was re-elected as head of the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO). Media coverage was rather muted inside and outside China, where official media foregrounded Qu’s being the first Chinese in such a role and ...
Xi Bets on Global South in Moscow
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 ...
EU’s Answer to China’s BRI Takes Shape in Africa
The European Union unveiled a $776 million infrastructure financing package for Africa on Tuesday as part of its Global Gateway initiative that is aimed at challenging China's growing influence in developing regions. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ...
China-based Development Bank to Ramp Up Lending by $10 Billion a Year
While China's two major policy banks have pulled hard on the reins to curtail development financing in the Global South, the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is going in the opposite direction. AIIB's President Jin Liqun told ...
The Only Way is South
Earlier this week, we highlighted a tweet from the Africa News journalist Ronald Kato: “Can safely argue at this point that the recent EU-Africa summit was a waste of time. The Global Gway is dead.”
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Unpacking Han Zheng’s Messaging to the Global South at the UN General Assembly
China, Africa and the War in Ukraine
With the Russian military now moving on Ukraine, the consequences of Europe's latest war are being felt around the world. Asian markets fell sharply today while oil prices shot up, crossing the $100 mark for the first time in seven years. ...
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 ...
The Global Gateway’s Real Challenge
With the EU-AU summit kicking off later this week in Brussels, I’ve been fielding questions from several journalists. They all kick off with one question: will the EU’s Global Gateway supplant the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa? In answering with a ...
Like It Or Not, the EU’s New Infrastructure Push in Africa is Being Framed as a Challenge to China
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen seemingly went out of her way to avoid saying the C-word during her brief two-day trip to Africa last week that included stops in Morocco and Senegal. The C-word, of course, is China. Beijing's ...
EU Chief Unveils First Global Gateway Projects in Africa
It's official! The European Union's answer to China's Belt and Road Initiative is now a reality. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the first initiatives under the EU's new Global Gateway program during a two-day visit to Morocco and ...