Examining New Data on Chinese Foreign Direct Investment across the Wider Mediterranean Region

Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Mediterranean region grew by 5% in 2022 but differed by region. While the Middle East accounted for the bulk of the increase, southern Europe and North Africa suffered investment slumps. This is the key ...

Examining New Data on Chinese Foreign Direct Investment across the Wider Mediterranean Region

By Leonardo Bruni Here at the ChinaMed Project, we are pleased to announce that we recently updated our database, ChinaMed Data, with the latest figures on Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the wider Mediterranean region. In this edition of the ...

More Details on How Germany’s Siemens Outbid Chinese Contractors to Win the Red-to-Med High-Speed Railway in Egypt

This week's news that the German company Siemens outbid Chinese and French contractors to build the new Egyptian high-speed railway that will go from Ain Sukhna on the Red Sea to the Mediterranean port city of Marsa Matruh took some by surprise, given how dominant Chinese ...

The China-Mediterranean Observer: Mixed Feelings in Iran and China About Strategic Cooperation Deal

We start this issue of the ChinaMed Observer with the debate in Iranian media over the signing of the Iran-China 25-year Cooperation Program. In this regard, Abolfazl Olamayifar, Director of the China Desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from the pages of the economic newspaper Donya-ye ...

The China-Mediterranean Observer: How Will a New/Old Biden Mideast Policy Impact China’s Ambitions in the Region?

The killing of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the future of American foreign policy toward the Middle East under President Biden, and the tensions between France and the Muslim world are the three key topics of recent Chinese commentaries. The ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

2026: Africa-China Relations in a World Shaped by North-South Geopolitics

When talking about Africa–China relations, one is always moving along a sliding scale. There are myriad interactions with Chinese entities that concern only individual African countries, segueing into trends affecting the whole continent and sliding further into global dynamics shaping the developing world, of which Africa is the heart.

The Africa-China relationship is its own thing, but Africa’s fate can’t easily be separated from factors affecting the wider Global South, ...