It’s Payback Time For a Lot of Those Chinese Loans

Borrowers in Africa and other developing regions are expected to repay $35 billion of Chinese loans this year, with two-thirds of the amount coming from the world's poorest countries. Many of these debts were taken out in the mid-2010s and are ...

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Appoints “Tiger-Fighter’ as New Leader

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has appointed a new leader. Zou Jiayi, a former Vice Finance Minister and anti-corruption official, was elected as the new leader of the development bank, which functions as a China-centric version of the World Bank. She replaces Jin Liqun, the founding ...

After Trump Cut Funding for Energy Transitions Overseas, Could China Step In?

By Zhou Xiaozhu On the day he became president again, Donald Trump signed an executive order to take the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement on climate change. That was followed by a termination of U.S. funding pledged during the Biden ...

Developing Nations Face ‘Tidal Wave’ of China Debt: Report

The world's poorest nations face a "tidal wave of debt" as repayments to China hit record highs in 2025, an Australian think tank warned Tuesday in a new report. China's Belt and Road Initiative lending spree of the 2010s has paid ...

China’s Global Power Plant Investment is Shifting—But Will the Scale Follow?

By Diego Morro In a recent virtual meeting with world leaders on Climate and the Just Transition, Chinese leader Xi Jinping stated that China will not slow its climate efforts or reduce support for international cooperation. This builds on his ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

China-Led Study Proposes Global Energy Network

A globally connected network of solar and wind energy could provide three times the global energy demand by 2050 at a lower cost than independent national power systems. This is the finding of a study led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the United States and Denmark.

The study focused on how areas with high solar and wind capacity (such as deserts) can be linked to ...

No More Time to Waste: The Imperative to Strengthen Global South Voice and Representation at the IMF

By Tim Hirschel-Burns and Marina Zucker-Marques The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) governance is increasingly out of step with today’s world. While emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), including China, account for 60 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), they ...

Xi Stresses Global South Ties During New Development Bank Meeting

Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized China’s support for the BRICS-led New Development Bank (NDB) and called on the institution to further build ties with the Global South. Xi called the bank "a pioneering initiative for the unity and self-improvement of the Global South," and said it will strengthen ...