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Two Weeks After the Coup, It’s Business as Usual For Gabon’s Chinese Community

Other than a 6 p.m. curfew every night, daily life for most of the 3,000 Chinese expatriates in Gabon hasn't changed much since the military overthrew the government of longtime dictator Ali Bongo on August 30. A media worker for the ...

Gabon’s Coup Could Open Opportunities for China

China’s response to last week’s coup in Gabon kept to well-trodden themes. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Webin told reporters:  “China is closely following the developments in Gabon. We call on relevant sides in the country to proceed from the fundamental interests of ...

Chinese Warships Dock in Gabon as Foreign Minister Holds Talks With Wang Yi in Beijing

A trio of Chinese warships will wrap up a four-day port of call to the small West African country of Gabon on Wednesday, capping several days of high-profile between the two countries. While the PLA Navy's 43rd Naval Escort Taskforce was docked ...

China-Gabon Relations Upgraded

China and Gabon's relationship has been upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, the main takeaway from President Ali Bongo Ondimba's state visit to Beijing. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? The elevation of the relationship to a strategic level might worry the United States ...

Gabon President’s Trip to Beijing Highlights Two Important Trends in Chinese Diplomacy

The arrival of Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba in Beijing this week may seem at odds with the dozens of other leaders from much larger, far more powerful countries who've traveled to China this year to meet with President Xi Jinping. ...

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 ...

With an Eye on China and Russia, Macron (Again) Tries to Reboot France’s Strategy in Africa

France needs to approach Africa with ‘profound humility’ to make up for its colonial past. This is the message from French President Emmanuel Macron, who is embarking on an African tour in part aimed at rejuvenating Paris’s engagement with a continent where its image remains shaped by its colonial ...

China’s Building Diplomacy in Africa Shows No Signs of Slowing in 2023

Add Gabon's Senate, known as Omar Bongo Ondimba Palace, to the long and growing list of African government buildings that will either be renovated or newly built using Chinese money and contractors. Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang alongside his Gabonese ...

Q&A: What Should Qin Gang Know About Africa and What Africans Should Know About China’s New Foreign Minister?

Qin Gang did not have a lot of time to prepare for his current tour of Africa, his first as foreign minister. The five-nation, week-long trip comes less than two weeks after he started his new job, so he's no doubt getting up to speed as are ...

Exposed: The Asian Companies Ruining West Africa’s Forests

West and Central Africa house some of the world’s last remaining old-growth rainforests. Asian timber companies are now driving widespread irresponsible logging, leaving ruined ecosystems in their wake.  However, simply blaming ‘China’ for this destruction is unrealistic. The environmental platform Mongabay recently published ...

China’s Newest Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Makes Her Debut

China's Foreign Ministry's spokespeople have the tricky job of being the human faces of a frequently opaque system. So China nerds were a-Twitter this week following the debut of Mao Ning, the Ministry's newest representative.   Mao reportedly spent 27 years in the foreign service ...

Did Vaccine Diplomacy Sway Africa’s Ukraine Vote?

Amid the global discussion about why 35 Global South countries avoided censuring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations, Michael Bociurkiw, a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, felt the need to tweet. He pointed out that some of the ...

Meet Zhou Aile, An Aspiring Chinese Social Media Star From Gabon

Zhou Aile, or Paula as she's known back home in Gabon, first moved to China 13 years ago to study Mandarin. Since then, Zhou, like other ambitious young African expats, has been working hard to make a name for herself as a media personality, especially online where ...
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