After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...
Category: Fishing
Vietnam Slams China’s Fishing Ban in Disputed Waters as Illegal
Vietnam has formally protested China’s latest imposition of an annual fishing ban in the South China Sea, which Vietnam refers to as the East Sea. The country states that the unilateral move violates its sovereignty and contravenes international ...
China’s Tuna Fishing Fleet Used North Korean Forced Labor, Violating U.N. Sanctions: Report
A fleet of Chinese distant-water tuna fishing fleet allegedly used North Korean forced laborers between 2019 and 2024, violating United Nations sanctions and exposing major loopholes in global seafood supply chains, according to a report released Monday by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).
Cook Islands Signs Deal for Closer Ties With China
The Cook Islands says it has signed a deal to expand relations with China, stressing that the accord does not impinge on ties with former colonial power New Zealand. Prime Minister Mark Brown said he signed an "action plan for the ...
Philippines Recovers Suspected Chinese Submarine Drone
A submarine drone suspected to be from China was recovered in waters off the central Philippines, police said on Thursday, warning of "potential national security implications." Three fishermen found the drone on Monday around nine kilometers off the coast of San ...
A Fight for Food and Sovereignty: How the South China Sea Crisis Impacts Filipino Fishermen
Part of the eastern South China Sea, known in the Philippines as the West Philippine Sea, represents not only a geopolitical flashpoint but also a lifeline for millions of Filipinos. Beneath the heated rhetoric of international diplomacy lies a struggle far closer to home, one that pits ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Palau President Says China Flouting Its Ocean Boundaries
Palau's president has accused China of flouting the Pacific nation's maritime borders, raising concerns about research vessels lurking "uninvited" within its waters. "We keep on raising flags and complaining about it, but they keep on sending them," said President Surangel Whipps ...
Peruvian Police Seize 1.3 Tons of Shark Fins
Peruvian authorities said Monday they had seized about 1.3 U.S. tons of illegally harvested shark fins, a delicacy in some Asian countries that has placed the predatory creatures at grave risk. The discovery was made at the warehouse of an export ...
Off Ecuador’s Galapagos, a Former Chinese Shark-Poaching Ship’s New Mission
By Enrique Ortiz When Ecuador's navy seized a Chinese-flagged ship off the Galapagos Islands in 2017, its hold brimmed with tons and tons of poached fish, many of them threatened species like hammerhead and thresher sharks.
China Protests Illegal Fishing Accusations
China is furiously protesting claims that its distant water fishing fleets are involved in rampant illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in waters as far away as South America. This follows a report by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association ...
South China Sea’s Fish Stocks Are Running Low. China’s Fishing Ban Isn’t Helping
The South China Sea punches well above its size in terms of marine biodiversity. The semi-enclosed sea, which spans over three million kilometers, is home to 8,600 different types of marine plants and animals including tuna and mackerel, grouper, herring, and crab, and seven out ...
What Happened to Illegal Fishing Whistleblower Emmanuel Essien?
The Ghanaian news outlet GhanaWeb recently published an investigative report about the purported disappearance of Emmanuel Essien, an official for the Ghanaian Fisheries Commission. He was reportedly last seen aboard a Chinese fishing vessel Meng Xin 15 on July 5, 2019. Two ...
Small Fish Sizes in Ghana’s Waters Indicate Effects of Illegal Trawling by Chinese and Other Vessels
The latest policy from the Fisheries Commission in Ghana reveals that data from catch assessment surveys shows considerable levels of overfishing leading to a GDP decline from 1.5% in 2015 to 0.9% in 2019 due to overexploitation of the fisheries resources.