China’s Vice President Han Zheng addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday. Along with retreads of established Chinese positions on Taiwan, Ukraine, and the Israel/Palestine conflict, his comments also provided interesting clues about China’s messaging to the Global South.
First, he called on the international community to “follow the direction of a multipolar world” with the UN at its center. I wonder how opinion within Beijing’s inner circles breaks down around the bipolarity/multipolarity issue, considering ...
Category: Finance
How China’s Economic Slowdown Impacts Developing Countries
The Chinese economy is in trouble. Exports, manufacturing output, and investment are all down. Unemployment, particularly among young people is up. Provincial debt is now at a record $8 trillion while a burgeoning property crisis has eliminated a once reliable source ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Unpacking Han Zheng’s Messaging to the Global South at the UN General Assembly
Mapping the Emerging Africa-China Landscape
Boston University's Global Development Policy Center published a new policy brief tracking trends in Chinese financing to Africa. It notes the sharp decline in the size and number of loans compared to the 2010s. This point has been made before and ...
What Does Chinese Lending to Africa Look Like Now?
China has been one of the most important development lenders to Africa over the last quarter of a century. This has transformed the African development landscape in helpful and problematic ways. It is also changing very rapidly. A new report from ...
Chinese Loans to Africa by Region, 2000-2022
From 2000-2022, countries in Southern Africa and East Africa historically borrowed the most from China primarily due to large-scale loans in Angola, Zambia, South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya. In 2021 and 2022, the regional composition is distinct from previous years; lending ...
Smaller and Greener? New Data Reveals a Shift in Chinese Loans to Africa
By Victoria Yvonne Bien-Aimé, Lucas Engel and Oyintarelado Moses A combination of economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the policy shift to a greener high-quality Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has translated into a substantial decline in large-scale Chinese loan ...
Zambian President Returns Home From Week-Long Visit to China, No Updates on Debt Restructuring Deal
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema returned home this weekend from a week-long trip to China that appeared to be as much about sightseeing as it was about conducting substantive diplomacy. During the last stop of his tour in Beijing on Friday, Hichilema met ...
Chinese Debt Servicing Costs Surge for Angola and Uganda
Debt servicing costs have been steadily rising across Africa, largely due to the falling value of local currencies that are used to repay dollar-denominated loans. But in Angola and Uganda, interest payments to Chinese creditors have jumped considerably in recent months ...
China’s Share of Nigeria’s Ballooning Debt Remains Steady at Around 4%
Chinese creditors account for just 4.1%, or $4.7 billion, of Nigeria's $114 billion total public debt, according to the latest figures released by the Debt Management Office in Abuja. While China's share is significantly larger than other bilateral creditors, France is ...
Forget About Everything Else, Hichilema’s in China to Resolve Zambia’s Still Unfinished Debt Restructuring Deal
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema is spending much of this week visiting Chinese business hubs in Shenzhen and Shanghai, but the real focus of this trip will be dealt with later in Beijing, where he will tackle the sensitive issue of debt. ...
Zambian President Arrives in China for Crucial Debt Talks
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema landed in the southern Chinese megacity of Shenzhen on Sunday to kick off a six-day visit to China that will include highly-anticipated talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to finalize the details of a debt restructuring deal signed last June.
Indonesian Raid Highlights the Criminal Economy of Chinese Online Scams in Southeast Asia
Indonesian police arrested 88 Chinese citizens on suspicion of being involved in cross-border internet scams following a tip-off from Chinese authorities. They are accused of running so-called romance scams, where they establish long-term online relationships with netizens in China in order ...