Category: Diplomacy
China Scholar and Former Aussie PM Kevin Rudd on What Countries Need to do To Better Manage Relations With Beijing
Twenty years ago China had an "Africa policy" but effectively lacked any meaningful engagement strategies at the national level. Now, the situation is very different and a generation of Chinese diplomats, many of whom have served multiple tours on the continent, have been instrumental in formulating country-specific ...
In the New Era of “China Against the World” Where Does Africa Stand?
Africa's political importance to China is steadily rising as Beijing's relations with a growing list of countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas dangerously deteriorate. Conflict has already broken out between China and India, leaving Asia's two largest powers bitterly divided. Even more worrisome ...
Q&A: Judd Devermont on How African Governments Can Position Themselves in the U.S.-China Standoff
The overwhelming majority of African countries enjoy robust ties with both China and the United States but those relations are under increasing strain as Washington's relations with Beijing further deteriorate. In recent months, a number of African leaders have expressed their desire to stay out of what's ...
Excuse Me. Who Exactly is Mike Pompeo Referring to When He Talks About “The Free World?”
I'm afraid I've devolved into the kind of person who checks Twitter before even putting on my glasses in the morning. On good days it jolts me out of my lockdown torpor at least long enough to make coffee. On bad days it makes me want to ...
U.S.-China Rivalry in the Red Sea
The Red Sea is emerging as a key theater of contention in the emerging duel between the United States and China. Both countries have military outposts in the tiny country of Djibouti and expanding geopolitical interests in one of the world's ...
Why China-Africa Relations is Like a Geopolitical Rorschach Test
It's often said that analyzing China-Africa ties is a lot like looking at one of those inky splotches you see on a Rorschach test. If you think China's engagement in Africa is the worst thing that's happened to the continent in ...
President Edgar Lungu Just Straight Up Asked Xi Jinping for Zambia’s Debts to be Cancelled
African appeals for Chinese debt relief have until recently been somewhat vague and indirect, at least publicly. Well, that changed when the spokesman for Edgar Lungu released details of Zambian president's call on Monday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. “President ...
Chinese Media Coverage of the Xi-Lungu Call Didn’t Say Anything About Debt Relief But Did Mention the One China Policy
Chinese official news coverage of Monday's call between President Xi Jinping and Zambian leader Edgar Lungu highlighted the stark disparity between the two countries' current political priorities. Neither the Xinhua news agency nor the China Daily ...
China’s Ambassador to Somalia Attempts to Downplay African Debt Concerns
China's Ambassador to Somalia, Qin Jian, is on something of a Twitter tear these past few days. He's posted dozens of short commentaries on everything from Taiwan (not surprising given the recent Somaliland-Taiwan announcement), Somalia's potential for natural resource ...
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Zambian President Edgar Lungu might have been surprised to hear that the big takeaway from his call on Monday with Xi Jinping wasn't debt relief or anything to do with COVID-19. In the unlikely event that he opened a copy of the China Daily newspaper on Tuesday ...
Trying to Make Sense of the Proposed China-Iran Deal
How one perceives the proposed China-Iran partnership agreement, which is reportedly close to completion, likely depends on where you're from and how you regard both these regional powers. In exchange for greater access to Iran's financial services, telecommunications, and infrastructure market, ...
The Proposed China-Iran Deal “Isn’t a Big Deal” Says Leading China-Gulf Scholar
Jonathan Fulton is an assistant professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at The Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's leading experts on the Chinese in the Persian Gulf/Middle East regions. Fulton has ...