Category: Diplomacy
China’s State-Controlled Media Holding Company Opens New HQ in Kenya
China's top diplomat for Sub-Saharan Africa, Ambassador Wu Peng, announced over the weekend the opening of the China Media Group's (CMG) new headquarters in Nairobi. This the latest evolution of Chinese state media's expansion in Kenya and Africa ...
The Tesla-fication of Vaccines
175 former heads of state, Nobel Prize winners and other illustrious eminences added their support to the call for the U.S. government to mandate a relaxing of intellectual property laws to allow countries in the Global South to mass-produce vaccines without fear of being sued. One of ...
With the J&J Jab Stalled in South Africa, EFF Party Leader Julius Malema Calls on Government to Approve Chinese, Russian Vaccines
One day after the South African government suspended the rollout of the U.S.-made Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine due to worries about blood clots, opposition leader and head of the Economic Freedom Fighters party Julius Malema called on the government to grant emergency approval ...
Africa and the Suga-Biden Summit
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga left Tokyo today for a crucial summit on Friday with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. This is going to be an important get-together, not only because it's the first time that Biden will host a visiting leader as president ...
There Isn’t Much Time Left if the U.S. Wants to Challenge China on Vaccine Distribution
With U.S. vaccination rates on the rise and predictions that the country will reach herd immunity by mid-summer, confidence in Washington's pundit and political circles has been steadily rising that the United States will finally be well-positioned to challenge China's early lead ...
Belt & Road and Vaccines Emerge as New Chinese Vectors to Bend the International Order to Its Will, Warns New U.S. Intelligence Report
China's push for "global power" emerged as the top threat to the United States using initiatives including the Belt & Road Initiative and COVID-19 vaccine distribution emerged as the top threat facing the United States, according to an important annual intelligence assessment released on ...
Unpacking African Agency
Today the South African Institute of International Affairs is holding a webinar featuring new work focusing on African agency in the face of Chinese power. How much power African actors have to shape their engagement with China is one of the field’s most ...
CSIS’s Judd Devermont Has Two Recommendations For How the U.S. Should Meet the Challenge of China’s BRI in Africa
Judd Devermont is the Africa Program Director at the Center for Strategic Studies, one of Washington's most influential think tanks, and recently spoke with Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer, Director of Research from the German Marshall Fund about how to "re-imagine U.S.-Africa policy."
Chinese Embassies, Ambassadors Stay Largely Quiet on the China CDC Director’s Vaccine Efficacy Controversy
China's normally bombastic diplomatic Twitter accounts in Africa were uncharacteristically silent on Monday with regards to the controversy that broke out over the weekend when Gao Fu, the director of the China CDC, acknowledged that Chinese vaccines are not as effective as the Pfizer and Moderna jabs. ...
Columnist: Ghana President Akufo-Addo’s “Beyond Aid” Campaign Apparently Doesn’t Include Donations From China
For years Ghana's president Nana Akufo-Addo has touted his "Ghana Beyond Aid" agenda. Back in 2017 during a visit with French President Emmanuel Macron, the Ghanaian leader said "we have to get away from this mindset of dependence." Well, GhanaWeb columnist Kwesi ...
Building an Alternate BRI Will be High on Japanese PM Suga’s Agenda When He Meets With Biden on Friday in DC
The Japanese Prime Minister's office is indicating that infrastructure and building an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative will be high on the agenda when Yoshihide Suga visits Washington on Friday for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden.
U.S. Senate Proposal to Fund “Independent Media” to Report “Negative Impact” of BRI in Developing Countries Generates Some Giggles in Washington
The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee wants to give a lot of money to local media in BRI member countries "to raise awareness of and increase transparency regarding the negative impact of activities related to the Belt and Road Initiative."