Category: Diplomacy

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken kicked off a three-nation African tour on Sunday in Johannesburg in what State Department officials had hoped would be a chance to reset Washington's ties with the continent and downplay perceptions of Africa as an arena in its Great Power rivalry with China. ...

The Chinese government organized another tour of Xinjiang for dozens of diplomats from Muslim majority countries in Asia and the Middle East. In all, 32 diplomats visited three cities (Kashgar, Aksu, and Urumqi) last week as part of Beijing's efforts to counter well-documented accusations that millions of Uyghurs in ...

China mounted an intercontinental media response throughout the Global South this week to rage against U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Managing Editor Cobus van Staden and Francophone Editor Geraud Neema break down why developing countries, including several in Africa, ...

China will remove import duties from 98% of products imported from 16 low-income countries from the beginning of September, according to the Ministry of Finance. They include African countries like Togo, Mozambique, Chad, and Rwanda, as well as several Pacific Island states, and Asian developing economies like Cambodia and ...

China mobilized its entire global messaging machine to protest U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recently concluded visit to Taiwan. Angry reactions have shown up in newspapers across the Global South, from Brazil to Congo to Oman and beyond.  While the Global ...

In a week of strident warnings from Beijing, one stood out. China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers that:  "Those who play with fire will perish by it, and those who offend China ...

Chinese lending is increasingly shifting from boosting development to helping indebted countries keep the lights on. This is now adding to debt distress across the developing world. AidData, a research group at the College of William and Mary focusing on Chinese lending, ...

The leaders of Tanzania and Zambia have agreed to find the money to refurbish the Chinese-built TAZARA rail line. The line, built at great financial and human cost by China in the early 1970s, is an icon of early Africa-China cooperation. It’s unknown if Chinese companies or lenders ...

Nigerian social media is aflame with a rumor that a container of human penises was sent to China from the West African country.  The rumor originated last year. It caused consternation in the Nigerian parliament before it was revealed to be based ...

Congo: On August 2, Jean-Claude Gakosso, the foreign minister of the Republic of Congo, said that adhering to the one China principle is the consistent policy of the Democratic People's Republic of Congo, the general consensus of the Congolese government and all Congolese people, and there is ...

The U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emmanuel, issued fresh accusations against China's international engagement, saying in an interview with the Associated Press that Beijing practices "economic coercion": “From intellectual property theft to coercion to debt dependency that China creates, the idea that ...

Chinese state media is promoting the narrative that the worsening food crisis in Africa is due to Western sanctions against Russia rather than because Moscow invaded a sovereign country. CGTN published a short clip on Tuesday of an ...