Western Calls to De-Risk African Projects Echo China’s Approach

One of the underlying factors driving Chinese business in Africa is the role of state insurers like Sinosure in reducing the risk taken on by Chinese companies.  So it’s interesting to see that Western actors are slowly moving in ...

New Research Reveals China’s Overseas Investment Priorities: Asia is Tops, Africa is “Basically a Rounding Error”

New research reveals fascinating patterns in Chinese overseas foreign direct investment in the nearly twenty-year period from 2003 to 2021. Not surprisingly, Asia has been the preferred destination, followed by Latin America, most of which has gone to Brazil, Chile, and other resource-rich countries in South America. ...

Why Battery Decoupling Projections Could Be Way Off

The United States and Europe could free themselves from their dependence on China for electric vehicle batteries by 2030, if they invest about $160 billion.  This is the key finding of a new Goldman Sach forecast, which extrapolated the long-term effects ...

U.S.-led Coalition Rolls Out First Major Infrastructure Project Under the New Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment

The G7 group of wealthy countries unveiled the first major initiative as part of its Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), which is ostensibly aimed at countering China's dominance in financing infrastructure in developing countries. The coalition announced a $20 ...

China Isn’t Spending Anywhere Near as Much on Aid to Pacific Island Countries as Many Think

New research reveals that Chinese aid spending in Pacific Island Countries (PIC) is now at the lowest level in 14 years, challenging the widely held perception that Beijing is showering the region with money in a bid to boost its influence. ...

China is Now Zimbabwe’s Biggest Investor

Over the past three years, China invested over $2 billion in Zimbabwe and is now the Southern African country’s largest foreign investor.  This was the main takeaway of a symposium on the economic benefits of Zimbabwe-China relations, which took place in ...

Two-Day China-Zambia Investment Forum Gets Underway in Lusaka

Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema, alongside Chinese ambassador Du Xiaohui opened a two-day investment forum on Wednesday in the capital Lusaka that aims to bring together businesses from both countries and generate more FDI. In all, 300 companies are participating in the ...

China Daily’s Use of the Word “Investments” is Highly Misleading

A report in the state-run newspaper China Daily that touted China's "investments" in Africa's burgeoning sustainable energy sector was misleading and highlights a common problem surrounding the use of the word "investments" in the context of Chinese economic engagement on the continent.

Indonesia’s Decision to Block Exports of Unprocessed Nickel is Paying Off Big Time

Indonesia is the envy of commodity-exporting countries throughout the Global South, who have long tried to find a way to force foreign mining companies to process raw materials domestically prior to export. Unfortunately for most countries, particularly in Africa, a combination ...

How a Small Group of Negotiators in Benin Got China to Play Ball

Chinese loan contracts to African countries are increasingly controversial, raising questions as to how African negotiators can get better deals. One of the world’s foremost experts on Africa-China negotiations, Folashade Soule, recently published a report highlighting how a group of negotiators in Benin bargained with Chinese bodies ...

The BRI Challenges Our Assumptions of How the World Fits Together 

A fascinating new report emerged from the Green Financing and Development Center at Fudan University in Shanghai this week, tracking trends in China’s Belt and Road investment. The big news is that while global BRI spending (both foreign direct investment and loans) has remained stable at roughly ...

China’s Enhances Its Dominant Role in the Congolese Mining Sector With Massive New $2.5 Billion Investment

The state-owned China Molybdenum Co (aka China Moly) recently announced a massive new $2.5 billion investment in its Tenke Fungurume mine (TFM) in southeastern DR Congo that aims to double its copper and cobalt output, critical raw materials used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. ...
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