Category: Politics
The Impossibility of Learning from Afghanistan
The story of China in the Global South has always carried a frisson in the West. A large part of that feeling has to do with China’s size, the way it simply doesn’t fit into any of the categories the West uses to classify and understand the ...
With an Eye on His Legacy, Kenya’s President Pressures Chinese Contractors to Finish Road Projects Before He Leaves Office
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is turning up the pressure on Chinese construction companies building three major infrastructure projects on the east coast to make sure they finish on schedule before the president leaves office and prior to next year's election.
Karen Bass Doesn’t Like What China’s Doing in Africa But Says Americans Aren’t in Much of a Position to Criticize
Chinese engagement in Africa is an increasingly popular topic in Washington these days amid heightened expectations that the Biden administration is going to make the continent more of a U.S. foreign policy priority. On the legislative side, one of the key players pushing the White House to ...
Zambia’s New President Has a Unique Opportunity To Reset Ties With China
Hakainde Hichilema's decisive election victory to become the eighth president of Zambia in the post-colonial era is a gust of good news that Africa and the world at large badly needed. His win is an endorsement of democracy in a region where we've seen so many other ...
Zambians Go to the Polls in a Tight Presidential Election with No China-Bashing, For Once
Ballots are now being counted in Zambia's general election that took place on Thursday. Presidential incumbent Edgar Lungu faces opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema in a contest that has been too close to call for weeks. While Zambia's beleaguered economy and surging debt ...
Assessing the Impact of Anti-China Sentiment in the Global South
In many countries in Africa, Asia, and throughout the Global South there's often a large discrepancy between perceptions of China in civil society and among governing elites. This phenomenon has been on full display recently in the Democratic Republic of the ...
China’s Evolving Military Diplomacy in the Global South
By Lukas Fiala, LSE IDEAS China Foresight August 1st marked the 94th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). While CGTN celebrated the occasion with a blockbuster-esque video, showcasing the PLA’s growing military strength and operational know-how, China’s ambassador to ...
One Week to Go Before the Zambian Elections and President Lungu Leans Hard on Chinese-Built Infrastructure
One week from today Zambian voters will go to the polls to vote for their next president and the ruling Patriotic Front is relying heavily on Chinese-financed infrastructure development to get its man, President Edgar Lungu, re-elected. “Look at the infrastructure ...
The West’s Ignorance About What China’s Doing in Africa is a Feature Not a Bug
Those of us who concentrate on Africa-China relations have long warned that the current framing of the relationship as a zero-sum arena in a new cold war strips African states of agency. The problem isn’t only that it flattens the complex ...
The Fact That Someone From Zim VP Chiwenga’s Team Became Infected With COVID in Beijing is an Embarrassment For Both China and Zimbabwe
New details are emerging about the controversy surrounding a member of Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga's delegation who was confirmed last week to be infected with COVID while on a visit to Beijing. The revelation that someone thought to be a ...
The Conservative Argument as to “Why Americans Should be Concerned About Communist China’s Influence in Africa”
The President of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C. published a scathing column today in the right-wing newspaper Washington Times warning Americans about why they need to be concerned about China's growing influence in Africa. It's ...
Professor Li Anshan Explains Why is Africa Important to China
With the triennial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit that will take place online and in Senegal less than three months away (it will likely occur in September), there's growing speculation as to what will be on the agenda and what that will say about Beijing's evolving priorities ...