It’s Time to Reflect on China’s Global Economic Role (Again)

By Lukas FIala Whenever the AidData team at William & Mary publishes one of their landmark reports, it’s time for us to sit down, read and think. And with the publication of their latest findings this week, they’ve given us a ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The Pain of Un-Polarity

“THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!”
This post by U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week may end up leaving a more lasting mark than the actual summit he attended.

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WEEK IN REVIEW: China Moves to Lock In Russia Energy and Investment Deals

A U.S. congressional report said China used the short border war between India and Pakistan in May to test and promote its advanced weapons and detection systems. The bipartisan US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said “Beijing opportunistically leveraged the conflict to test and advertise the sophistication of ...

Indonesia Turns to China’s Yuan to Cut Reliance on the U.S. Dollar

China’s yuan is taking a larger role in Indonesia’s currency markets, as Bank Indonesia opens new yuan-denominated monetary operations. This new facility aims to reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar. It also aim to support the fast-growing use of local currencies in trade with China.

Landmark Report Tracks China’s Global Lending

The conversation about China’s rise as a global lender has been held back by two large trends. First, the data is hard to get and mind-numbingly vast. Second, studies tracking this data have so far tended to focus on the Global South in isolation, rather than putting ...

New Data: How Chinese Economic Shifts will Impact Africa

As China navigates a domestic economic downturn and a whipped-up global geoeconomic scene, its trade with Africa keeps changing. A new report by the Rhodium Group in collaboration with the Atlantic Council projects how Chinese economic growth trends will affect ...

Chinese versus U.S. Foreign Direct Investment in Africa

Deborah Brautigam, a prominent expert on Chinese global financing flows, responded to recent discussions about comparisons in Chinese and U.S. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Africa. It was sparked by a BBC report, which used 2023 data from the China-Africa Research Initiative, a platform pioneered by Brautigam, to ...

U.S. Is Top Recipient of Chinese State-Bank Loans: New Data

The U.S. is the top recipient of Chinese state-bank loans and grants, according to new AidData figures that trace more than $200 billion across roughly 2,500 U.S. deals since 2000. The new data emerges despite years of U.S. warnings to ...

IMF Warns Kenya Over Risks of Converting Debt to Yuan

The International Monetary Fund cautioned Kenya over the dangers of converting U.S. dollar-denominated loans to new loans priced in Chinese yuan. In October, Kenya announced that it plans to convert the remaining $3.5 billion of debt owed to the China Exim ...

JD Logistics Launches China–Vietnam Cargo Route, Deepening E-Commerce Integration

JD Logistics, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Jing Dong or JD.com, announced the debut of a new 2-3 times a week cargo service between the eastern Chinese industrial hub city of Wuhu, along the Yangtze River delta, and Hanoi. WHY ...

China Showcases Stability as Thailand’s King Visits Amid U.S. Trade Rift

Thailand's travel-averse King Maha Vajiralongkorn made his first official visit to China since ascending to the throne nine years ago. On Friday, the king, accompanied by his wife Queen Suthida, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who sought to portray his government as a more stable, predictable partner than ...

China Retail Sales, Industrial Production Growth Slowed in October

By Peter Catterall Retail sales and factory activity in China slowed last month, official data showed Friday, highlighting the uphill battle facing authorities battling a persistent consumer malaise in the world's second-largest economy. Beijing has ...

WEEK IN REVIEW: China’s U.S. Soybean Orders Jump After Trade Truce, Then Subsides

The Chinese authorities unveiled plans this week to use their boom in renewable energy to power a whole set of ancillary industries. During the 2026-2030 five-year plan period, provinces and power producers will reportedly be pushed to build up local industrial bases to boost the production of green ...

China’s Premier Import Expo Creates More Space for Global South, But Hurdles Remain

The China International Import Expo (CIIE), which concluded early this week, was mainly taken as a litmus test of Beijing’s trade relations with conventional partners amid ongoing tariff disputes. Chinese importers signed $83.5 billion in import deals at the expo in Shanghai. ...
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