Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Saudi Arabia. His time there will be taken up by bilateral meetings and regional summits with leaders from across the Middle East and North Africa.
So far, the press coverage has mostly focused on the pageantry of the arrival, which saw a twenty-one-gun salute and squadrons of fighter planes spraying smoke in the colors of the Saudi and Chinese flags. China’s press celebrated Xi ...
Country: Japan
Chinese PM Li Heads Home From Cambodia After Another Round of Diplomatic Speed Dating
Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang wrapped up a six-day visit to Cambodia on Sunday at the conclusion of a pair of regional summits where he also held a number of sideline bilaterals with both Asian and Pacific leaders: ...
Global South Aids China’s Rise to Number 2 Global Car Exporter
China surpassed Germany to become the world’s second-largest car exporter, after Japan. New numbers from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that China moved up from the number three position it reached last year by displacing South Korea.
Zambia is Going to Look Easy Compared to the Financial Mess in Sri Lanka
A broad cross-section of the international financial community is warning that Sri Lanka's major creditors must move quickly to restructure the country's debts or else full-scale economic collapse is inevitable. The latest warning signal came from the Hong Kong office of ...
There’s a Creeping Sense Last Week’s Japan’s Africa Summit Was Kind of Underwhelming
The post-mortems of last week's Tokyo International Conference on African Development are starting to come in and the reviews, at least from some in the Japanese media, are not very encouraging. One of Japan's main news agencies, Jiji, said the event ...
Japan Pledges $30 billion in Funding at Africa Summit
Japan will extend $30 billion in funding to aid African development. This is the major outcome of the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, which took place in Tunisia this weekend. Speaking virtually, Japan’s ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Xi Arrives in Saudi Arabia
China Hits Back at TICAD 8
Japanese officials may have tried to downplay their rivalry with China in Africa, but the response from Beijing put the inflamed relationship between the countries front and center. China’s state-owned Global Times sharply criticized the commitments announced at the ...
African Development Bank Collaboration Reveals Overlaps Between Japan’s and China’s Goals
A key announcement at TICAD 8 was that Japan will provide $5 billion to the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the fifth phase of the Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa initiative (EPSA) from 2023 to 2025.
How Do TICAD and FOCAC Differ?
While TICAD and the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) hone in on similar areas of cooperation (training, connectivity, infrastructure), their approaches differ in important ways. This article by Peter Fabricius for the South African think tank the Institute ...
IMF Visit Adds Pressure on China to Support Sri Lanka Debt Restructuring
A team from the International Monetary Fund is in Sri Lanka for the second time in three months to discuss debt restructuring amid calls for China to align itself with the country’s other creditors. Sri Lanka’s new
TICAD: Japan’s Quiet Challenge to China’s Development Role in Africa
27 and 28 August will see the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) taking place in Tunisia. Japan’s TICAD predates China’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and set the template for the continent’s interaction with Asian economic superpowers.