Category: Diplomacy

Both China and the United States are becoming less popular in Africa. This was the main finding of a preliminary release of new opinion survey data from the Africa-focused polling company Afrobarometer. The full details of the poll haven’t been released yet, ...

An inauguration ceremony for a new Confucius Institute was held at Bangui University in the Central African Republic last week. It comes only a few weeks after nine Chinese mining personnel were killed and two injured in a gun attack in the city. There is still no ...

Western companies like Apple aren’t alone in trying to limit their exposure to China. Chinese companies are increasingly eyeing overseas expansion too. While some of these moves are due to cost factors like lower salaries in countries like Bangladesh, increased geopolitical tensions are playing a growing role.

Researchers at Boston University's Global Development Policy Center did not mince words in a report published this week, in which they stated that "debt trap diplomacy is not a driver of Chinese lending and overseas development finance." For anyone who follows ...

Politico has obtained a confidential EU briefing outlining plans to regain influence in four “priority countries” deemed too close to China and Russia. In order to isolate China and drum up global support for Ukraine and against Russia, the document advised the ...

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei pledged his country’s unconditional support for what he repeatedly called ‘the Republic of Taiwan.’ He is on a trip to Taipei following a visit by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to Guatemala City in early April. Giammattei repeatedly expressed support for ...

There's a lot of talk these days in Washington policy circles about the urgent need for the United States to "de-risk" or "de-couple" itself from Chinese supply chains needed to manufacture batteries required to power the green mobility revolution. A lot ...

A tense stand-off played out on Sunday in disputed waters off the Philippines when a pair of coast guard vessels were closely followed by a Chinese Coast Guard ship and other unidentified vessels that are presumed to be Chinese fishing trawlers.

This month's massive 17,000-strong joint U.S.-Philippines military exercises code-named Balikatan (Tagalog for "shoulder-to-shoulder") focused a lot of attention on drills in the South China/West Philippine Sea. The U.S. has deployed considerable military force to the South China Sea region in recent ...

One of China's top trade negotiators said Beijing is still committed to joining the pan-Pacific trade pact known as CPTPP (formerly known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership) even though the odds of admission in the current political environment are close to zero. ...

By Lukas Fiala The visit of China’s newly minted defense minister, Li Shangfu, to Russia over the past week resulted in the usual diplomatic overtures. As Li reportedly put it: ‘We have very strong ties. They surpass the military-political alliances of ...

Many African countries are confronting unprecedented challenges from a convergence of forces far beyond their control. Africans are suffering disproportionately from the effects of climate change, global economic disruption and are being pushed to the middle of yet another Great Power ...