Live Feed

The News Feed is curated by CGSP’s editors in Asia and Africa.

China Sentences 16 Myanmar-Linked Gang Members to Death

1 criminals from gangs based in northern Myanmar were sentenced to death on September 29, 2025, on multiple criminal charges, according to the verdict of a local court in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province. Image via People's Daily.
A Chinese court sentenced to death on Monday 16 members of a family-run criminal gang that established deadly scam centers in Myanmar’s Kokang region on the border with China, among other crimes. Scam ...
by Eric Olander

Indonesia Fines TikTok Over Late Tokopedia Acquisition Notice

(Photo by Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP)
Indonesia’s antitrust agency has fined TikTok $900,000 for failing to notify regulators in time about its acquisition of e-commerce platform Tokopedia, an official said on Monday. TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, completed an ...
by Agence France-Presse

Iran Recalls European Ambassadors After Failure of China-Led UN Vote

China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Geng Shuang speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting last week. Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP.
Iran recalled its ambassadors to the UK, Germany, and France, following the defeat of a China-led draft resolution in the UN Security Council to prevent the reimposition of sanctions against the country.
by Eric Olander

Singapore Denies Entry to HK Activist, Citing ‘National Interests’

File image of former Hong Kong legislator and pro-democracy activist Nathan Law, who posed for this picture in London in August 2023. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)
Singapore said Monday it had refused entry to Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law over the weekend as his presence would not be in the city-state’s “national interests”. The activist, who holds a ...
by Eric Olander

BYD: 1 in 5 EVs Will Be Exported in 2025 as Production Ramps

BYD vehicles await export at a Hangzhou terminal, June 2, 2025. BYD says 1 in 5 EVs will be exported in 2025, driven by its car-carrier fleet, Hungary plant, and growth in Europe and Southeast Asia. (Photo: Long Wei/CFoto via AFP)
China’s BYD expects to export 800,000 to 1,000,000 EVs in 2025, about a fifth of its 2025 sales as it moves more cars on its own vessels and adds capacity overseas. “We estimate ...
by Edwin Shri Bimo

China Calls on North Korea to Oppose ‘Hegemony’

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in Beijing on September 28, 2025. Image via Xinhua.
Beijing wants to strengthen cooperation with Pyongyang and work together to oppose hegemony, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his North Korean counterpart, in a thinly veiled reference to the United States. North ...
by Agence France-Presse

Thailand Asks China to Complete the 280,000-ton Rice Import

Thailand asks China to complete a 280,000-ton rice purchase and explores an extra 500,000 tons in 2025.. June 26, 2024, Chiang Hong District, Chiang Rai. The rice fields near the Ing River wetlands in Chiang Khong, Chiang Rai
Thailand asked China to complete a 280,000-metric-ton government rice purchase and floated a separate 500,000-metric-ton buy for 2025, Commerce Minister Suphajee Suthumpun said on Saturday. The remaining 280,000 tons are believed to be ...
by Edwin Shri Bimo

China Puts EV Exports Under Permit Regime from 2026

BYD electric cars waiting to be loaded on a ship stacked at the international container terminal of Taicang Port at Suzhou Port, in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province. (Photo: AFP)
China will add electric vehicles, or EVs, to its export-permit list effective Jan. 1, 2026, the Ministry of Commerce said, citing “healthy development” of the sector. The step brings EVs into ...
by Edwin Shri Bimo

$80 Billion Zambian Lawsuit Triggers Outrage on Chinese Social Media

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: “Chinese companies were extorted for $80 billion — Zambia has really gone crazy from being poor.”
China’s social media has been buzzing after Zambian farmers filed an $80 billion lawsuit against Sino-Metals, a Chinese-owned copper mining company, accusing it of causing an environmental disaster following the collapse of a mining waste ...
by Han Zhen

China at UN Warns of Return to ‘Cold War Mentality’

Premier of China Li Qiang speaks during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 26, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
Chinese Premier Li Qiang warned Friday against a return to a “Cold War mentality” and defended multilateralism and free trade, in a veiled criticism of the United States from the United Nations. The ...
by Agence France-Presse

China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan Reject U.S. Bagram Airbase Return

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi with Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 20, 2025. China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan opposed any U.S. move to regain Bagram base, citing Afghan sovereignty. Kabul rejects the idea. Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry
China, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan jointly opposed any move for the U.S. military to regain a presence at Afghanistan’s Bagram airbase, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said ...
by Edwin Shri Bimo

China Starts Pitching Car Factory System to Set ASEAN Standards

Darion Cortez on display. China pivots to exporting factory systems in ASEAN, targets 30% higher output, 31% lower cost, and aims to set regional auto plant standards. (Photo: MacauBusiness)
China’s auto manufacturers are moving from exporting vehicles to exporting manufacturing systems, technology platforms, and standards into ASEAN, using localized rollouts (right-hand models, local partners) to anchor market entry. SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW) used ...
by Edwin Shri Bimo

WEEK IN REVIEW: China Secures Soybeans from Argentina, Snubs U.S. Exports

Browning soybean pods are seen at Harborview Farm as harvest for the crop nears in Rock Hall, Maryland, on September 23, 2025. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP)
Chinese traders are rapidly increasing their orders of Argentinian soybeans, following the country’s temporary suspension of export taxes. Since the tax holiday was announced on Monday, at least twenty ship cargoes (about 1.3 million ...
by CGSP Staff

Chinese EV Giant Reenters South African Market

A Geely exhibit at a car fair in Shanghai in April. Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP
The Chinese car company Geely has announced it will return to South Africa, about a decade after it withdrew from the market. It has reportedly secured 35 dealerships around the country, aiming ...
by CGSP Staff

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Revealing Reactions to China’s Festival of Optics

In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...

Spike in Chinese Oil Imports from Indonesia Sparks Iran Rumors

Graph via Bloomberg
A surge in oil imports from Indonesia to China over the last two months has sparked allegations that China may be importing sanctioned Iranian oil via the Southeast Asian country. Since July, China ...
by CGSP Staff

China Announces New Climate Goals

Chinese president Xi Jinping virtually addresses the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly on September 21, 2021 in New York. (Photo by Spencer Platt / POOL / AFP)
China’s President Xi Jinping announced a new set of climate goals at Wednesday’s UN General Assembly meeting. The announcement comes a day after his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, dismissed climate change, calling ...
by CGSP Staff

Famed ‘Sponge Cities’ Chinese Architect Dead in Brazil Plane Crash

File image of Yu Kongjian, dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape of Peking University, who died in a plane crash in Brazil on September 24, 2025.
Chinese landscape architect Yu Kongjian, known for his so-called nature-mimicking “sponge cities,” has died in a small plane crash in Brazil with two filmmakers documenting his work, police said Wednesday. The 62-year-old was ...
by Agence France-Presse

China Leads Influence in Southeast Asia, but Neighbors Come First

China tops Lowy’s Southeast Asia Influence Index, but ASEAN neighbors collectively wield more sway than any external power, including China. (Graphic: Lowy Institute)
China leads the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Influence Index by a point, 65 to 64 over the United States on the latest reading, but the study finds neighbors are more important than ...
by Edwin Shri Bimo

China–ASEAN Trade Nears $1,05 Trillion as Surplus Hits $278 Billion

Containers at the Laem Chabang deep-sea port in Chon Buri province, Thailand, on June 25, 2024. (Photo by Nutthawat Wichieanbut / Bangkok Post / Bangkok Post via AFP)
China and ASEAN are set to pass the trade threshold in 2025, with nearly $1.05 trillion in goods. That would leave China with a surplus that swells past $278 billion, a big ...
by Edwin Shri Bimo

Trump Tariffs Boosting Nigerian E-Commerce Giant

A file image of a delivery driver for Jumia in Côte d'Ivoire. Jumia is a New York-listed Nigerian e-commerce service with a large footprint in West Africa. Photo by ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP
The CEO of the Nigerian e-commerce company Jumia says the Trump administration’s tariffs are easing its access to Chinese manufacturers. Francis Dufay told Bloomberg that trade barriers in the U.S. are forcing Chinese ...
by CGSP Staff

Deals Signed at China-South Africa Trade and Investment Conference

A still from a video promoting the trade and investment fair, via the South African Broadcasting Corporation
The 9th China-South Africa Trade and Investment Promotion Conference opened in Johannesburg on Tuesday. It was marked by the signing of several deals, including an MoU for closer cooperation between the ...
by CGSP Staff

Chinese Importers Buy Argentinian Soybeans Amid Global Trade Shift

Browning soybean pods are seen at Harborview Farm as harvest for the crop nears in Rock Hall, Maryland, on September 23, 2025. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP)
Chinese agricultural traders booked at least ten orders of Argentinian soybeans following the Milei government announcement on Monday that it will suspend export taxes on key crops. The move comes as Argentina tries ...
by CGSP Staff

U.S. Tariffs Hit China’s Exports; Pressure Rises in Southeast Asia

File image of cargo containers stacked at Yantian port in Shenzhen in China's southern Guangdong province. STR / AFP
China’s exports to the United States fell 25% between April and August 2025, about $57 billion, yet shipments redirected to Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe helped offset the hit, a recent UNDP ...
by Edwin Shri Bimo

Chinese Commentary Says New Saudi-Pakistan Pact Could Lead to an “Islamic NATO”

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: "Are Saudi Arabia and Pakistan building an 'Islamic NATO'?"
After Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed their joint defense pact, global attention surged, largely due to Pakistan being the sole nuclear-armed Muslim nation. A detailed commentary published on the popular nationalist news site Guancha ...
by Han Zhen

Argentina’s “Foreign Exchange Bet” Could Shake Up the Global Soybean Trade, Chinese Commentator Says

A hopper loads soybeans on a truck after the harvesting of a soy field in Lobos, some 100 km west of Buenos Aires. (Photo by Juan MABROMATA / AFP)
Argentina recently dropped an agriculture bombshell: a temporary, full tax exemption on exports of key grains and oilseeds, including soybeans, wheat, and corn, effective until October 31st. The policy has a built-in “stop-loss” mechanism: ...
by Han Zhen

China Not Seeking New Special and Differential Treatment in WTO Pacts

Exterior of the World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
China will not be seeking new special and differential treatment — a privilege granted to developing countries — in current and future World Trade Organization (WTO) talks, the country’s official Xinhua news agency ...
by Agence France-Presse

Zelensky Says China Could Force Russia to Stop Ukraine War

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a United Nations Security Council minesterial meeting on Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York on September 23, 2025. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / POOL / AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN Security Council Tuesday that China could pressure Russia to end the war in his country, following a U.S. call for Beijing to stop buying Moscow’s oil. ...
by Agence France-Presse

ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting Pushes Regional Integration Amid Trade Tensions

The trade relationship between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expected to take center stage at the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) gathering in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. A consultation ...
by CGSP Staff

China to Donate Over $400,000 in Police Gear to Vanuatu: Minister

Vanuatu says it will sign a policing agreement with China that includes motorcycles, drones and other equipment, on top of existing training programs. Image via the Chinese embassy in Vanuatu.
Vanuatu’s interior minister has said China will donate hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of police equipment to the Pacific island nation, local media reported Tuesday, as Beijing deepens its influence in the ...
by Agence France-Presse

Why Venezuela Has Become China’s Frontline Partner Against U.S. Pressure

Members of the Bolivarian Armed Forces take part in a military exercise at Fort Tiuna in Caracas on September 20, 2025. (Photo by Pedro MATTEY / AFP)
A Chinese military blogger on the video platform Bilibili recently analyzed the rising military tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela, framing Venezuela’s importance to China in both strategic and practical terms.  His argument goes ...
by Han Zhen
Page 1 of 20612…206

Most Read

1
Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
2 Chinese Military Fans Discuss Why Indonesia Bought Rafale Instead of J-10C
3 From J-10C to Kaan? Indonesia’s Fighter Jet Deal With Turkey Shocks Chinese Military Fans
4
Indonesia Goes Nuclear, Taps China and Russia for Modular Reactors
5
Chinese Cargo Planes Secretly Ferrying Supplies to Iran, Claim Online Sleuths
6
BYD Tops Southeast Asia EV Sales, Tesla Drops in Hong Kong

CGSP Intelligence

Special Report

Indonesia’s China-Backed Nickel-to-Battery Ambition

Special Report

Data Tool

Track cobalt mining and processing in the DRC

Data Tool

Data Tool

The CGSP China-Africa Energy Tracker : trace Chinese energy projects by type

Data Tool

Introducing CGSP Intelligence

CGSP Intelligence gives you the information advantage on Chinese activities in the Global South. CGSP Intelligence is launching in Summer 2025, with analysis and a full set of data tools designed for corporate and enterprise leaders.