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: Space
China’s Rocket Debris Prompts Philippine Condemnation
The Philippine government has issued a formal condemnation of China following the suspected descent of China's rocket debris from a Long March 12 launch into waters near Philippine maritime territory. The incident, which occurred late Monday, has triggered public ...
Chile Reviews Chinese Observatory Plans Slammed by U.S.
Chile said Wednesday it was reviewing an agreement for the construction of a Chinese astronomical observatory on its soil, a project that has drawn criticism from Washington as it jostles with Beijing for influence in Latin America. Under an agreement signed ...
Chinese Embassy Denounces U.S. General’s Remarks on Chinese Space Exploration Station in Argentina
The Chinese Embassy in Argentina strongly condemned a U.S. general’s remarks on a Chinese space exploration station in the country. Following Javier Milei's election as president of Argentina in December, the Chinese-built space exploration station in the Andes Mountains has become ...
China Launches Egypt’s Newest Satellite Into Orbit
Egypt's NextSat-1 satellite blasted into space from a seaborne launch pad off the coast of Yangjiang in China's southern Guangdong province on Saturday. The small, microsatellite weighs only 67kgs and was shot into orbit on the back of a Jielong-3 (Smart Dragon-3) ...
China’s Space Plans Play Into India-Pakistan Tensions on Earth
If China’s upcoming mission to the moon succeeds, it will become the first country to collect samples from the dark side of the moon. China’s National Space Administration said planning for the Chang’e-6 mission is going smoothly. The mission will be notable for ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Week in Review: Illegal Mining in Ghana, U.S. Disillusionment in the DRC & #ChinaAfricaSpaceTalk
Aisha Huang, aka the "Galamsey Queen," surprised everyone when she was arrested again for illegal mining in Ghana. What does her arrest say about the government's efforts to combat illicit Chinese mining? Plus, a new report says the U.S. is "disillusioned" ...
Thousands of Young People Gather Across Africa to Speak With Astronauts Aboard the Chinese Space Station
Chinese embassies in Africa organized the first-ever #ChinaAfricaSpaceTalk on Tuesday that connected young people across the continent with three astronauts aboard the Chinese Space Station. The event, organized in conjunction with the African Union, was an undeniable public diplomacy ...
Chinese Astronauts Reach Out to African Kids
Three Chinese astronauts are holding a live chat with African youth directly from China's orbiting space station today. The live Q&A session, scheduled for 11:00 GMT, is arguably a powerful soft power play on a continent where youth interest in space exploration and other forms of high-tech development is ...
Representatives From 50 African Countries Take Part in Inaugural China-Africa Beidou Forum
More than 600 representatives from almost every African country, including eight ministers and eight ambassadors, attended the first-ever China-Africa Beidou System Cooperation Forum that took place on Friday in Beijing and also online with stakeholders in Africa. ...
Lots of Concern This Weekend That Debris From an Out of Control Chinese Rocket Was Going to Land in Africa
There was palpable anxiety across a number of African countries this weekend that pieces of a Chinese rocket that hurtled back to earth were going to land somewhere in their countries. Newspapers in Ghana, Nigeria and Namibia, among others, fretted about the prospect of falling rocket shrapnel. ...
UAE PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Tweets in Chinese to Congratulate Xi Jinping on Mars Mission
It's rare for the head of a foreign state to tweet in Chinese, but today the UAE's Sheikh Mohammed congratulated China, and President Xi Jinping specifically, on the Tianwen-1 spacecraft joining the Emirates' own Hope Probe in its orbit around Mars. ...
China’s Space Program Becomes New Soft Power Message in Africa
China's Ambassador to Botswana Zhao Yanbo was among a number of Chinese envoys and embassies who celebrated this week's launch of the Long March-3B rocket, which carried the new Beidou Navigation Satellite System into orbit. The new nav system presents an immediate challenge to the U.S.-led Global ...