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The News Feed is a curated selection of the most important China-Africa news edited by CAP’s editors in Asia and Africa.

WEEK IN REVIEW: India Announces That Next Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit Will Take Place Virtually

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a recent BRICS Summit, Image: Sergio Lima/AFP
India, the current president of the Eurasia-focused Shanghai Cooperation Organization announced the China-centered bloc’s next summit will take place virtually. According to the Indian press, the decision was aimed at avoiding awkward face-to-face meetings ...

Kenya’s First Chinese-Funded, Built Geothermal Energy Plant Paves Way for More Similar Projects

One of the very first GDC operation sites in Menengai, Nakuru County in Kenya's Rift Valley. Image by Njenga Hakeenah/CGSP
Chinese funding and technology could help accelerate Kenya’s geothermal electricity generation helping the country shift entirely to renewable energy. The first Chinese-funded privately-owned power-producing company in Kenya, Sosian Energy, will start feeding ...

New Development Bank Wants to Finance More Projects Using Local Currencies Rather Than the U.S. Dollar

New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff said the NDB is looking to finance more projects using local currencies rather than the U.S. dollar. STR / AFP
The New Development Bank (aka the “BRICS Bank”) wants to reduce the use of the U.S. dollar when it finances projects in developing countries. The head of the Shanghai-based lender, Dilma Rousseff, ...

China, India Feud Intensifies as Both Countries Expel Nearly All Journalists From the Other Country

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing had taken "appropriate action" in response to what she described as India's unfair treatment of Chinese journalists. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Chinese government said it is taking what it described as “appropriate countermeasures” against India for expelling its journalists from the country. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday it would ...

Only 8% of Chinese Have a Favorable View of India, Says New Tsinghua Univeristy Poll

Source: 2023 Public Opinion Polls: Chinese Outlook on International Security published by the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University
The Chinese public is far more skeptical about relations with India than any of Beijing’s other major rivals, including the United States and Japan, according to a recent poll conducted by researchers ...

Scholar: Tense Sino-Indian Relations Now the “New Normal”

Headline translation: Lin Minwang: After reviewing the history of the trans-Himalayan geopolitical game, I found that...
China’s ties with India suffered a major blow when the two countries engaged in a brief, violent skirmish along their disputed border in the Ladakh/Tibet Autonomous Region in 2020 — triggering a surge ...

Chinese Auto Major Geely Eyes Thailand to Build Regional Manufacturing and Sales Hub

Peter PARKS / AFP
Chinese auto major Geely, the country’s fourth largest, is weighing a major expansion in Southeast Asia with the creation of a sales and manufacturing hub in Thailand. Thailand’s Board of Investment met with ...

Anti-Chinese Campaign on Nigerian Twitter Raises Questions

An example of an anti-China tweet circulating on Nigerian Twitter. The same image is used repeatedly by different users. Image via @ana_petrov1
Readers following West Africa-China relations will know that unhappiness about Chinese involvement in small-scale mining is ongoing, especially in Ghana. However, a new campaign on Nigerian Twitter under the tag #STOPCHINESEILLEGALMINING is raising all kinds ...

G7 Food Security Plan “A Castle in the Sky”: Chinese Researcher

U.S. President Joe Biden (R) greets the President of the Comoros Azali Assoumani at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. Assoumani attended as head of the African Union. Image: Ludovic Marin / AFP
At their summit in Hiroshima, Japan, earlier in mid-May, the Group of Seven wealthy industrial nations committed themselves to improving global food security. The Hiroshima Statement for Resilient Global Food Security called for increasing ...

Q&A: Hong Kong Expertise Playing Pivotal Role in Transitioning Popular Motorbike Taxis in Kenya

Andy Gao, Omnivoltaic CEO with one of the Kenyan technicians, S. Kibet showcasing one of the electric bikes assembled in Kenya. Njenga Hakeenah / CGSP
A small group of entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and China is pioneering a new e-mobility business model in Kenya that aims to revolutionize the country’s ubiquitous motorbike taxis known as bodabodas. Tucked away in a ...

Russia Not the Only Big Issue At BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting This Week

A display of member country flags at an opening ceremony at the New Development Bank this week. Image: STR / AFP
The Foreign Ministers of the BRICS group will meet in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday. The meeting is an important step towards the BRICS summit in August. The South African government announced this ...

Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone Attracts Chinese Investment Bonanza

A file image of China's President Xi Jinping (L) meeting his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in 2016. Image: AFP / Egyptian Government
Egypt’s Chinese-built Suez Canal Economic Zone attracted a whopping $3 billion in Chinese investments, according to its chairperson Walid Gamal El-Din following his visit to Beijing in late May. The deals cover a ...

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Wraps Up 5-Day Visit to China

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen Hassen met with his Chinese counterpart last week but no specifics of their discussion were released to the public. Image via Xinhua.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen Hassen, who is also deputy prime minister, concluded a five-day visit to China on Sunday following meetings with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. None ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Argentina Scores $924 Million in Deals from China

Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa managed to secure almost a billion dollars‘ worth of investment deals on the first leg of his trip to China.
He is on an economic rescue mission, with talks expected to renew and extend a currency swap agreement in order to infuse much-needed foreign money into the Argentinian economy.

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Both Kenya and China Dismiss Reuters Report on Chinese Hacking as “Sheer Nonsense” and “Sponsored Propaganda”

The Chinese and Kenyan governments issued separate statements that blasted last week’s report by Reuters that claimed Chinese hackers had penetrated the computer networks of eight Kenyan ministries. Citing security concerns, the report ...

The Kenyan Government Apparently is Unaware China Doesn’t Finance Railways in Africa Anymore

The dotted line shows the proposed expansion of the SGR to Kenya's border with Uganda.
The Kenyan government is going to make one more attempt to try and persuade China’s policy banks to lend them money to extend the Standard Gauge Railway from its current terminus in the Rift ...

U.S.-Led Talks With Asian Countries Aims to Reduce Dependence on Chinese Supply Chains

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Ministerial meeting in Detroit, Michigan on May 27, 2023. JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP
The 14-member states of the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) met in Detroit on Friday, where they said a deal to diversify supply chains beyond China is “substantially completed.“ U.S. Commerce Secretary ...

WEEK IN REVIEW: Official Navigation Beacons Placed Close to Contested Spratly Islands in South China Sea

Image from the Philippines Coast Guard on February 13th that purportedly shows a Chinese Coast Guard targeting them with a military grade laser. AFP
China’s Transport Ministry confirmed that three official navigation beacons have been placed close to the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. This follows a similar positioning by the Philippines as the countries ...

Chinese Hackers Targeted Kenyan Government on Debt: Report

The allegations that Chinese hackers targeted the Kenyan government is front-page news in Kenya.
Kenya is abuzz following an exclusive report by Reuters that Chinese entities repeatedly hacked Kenyan government computer networks. The report cites cybersecurity reports and government sources to allege that unidentified Chinese actors surveilled eight ...

Difficult Conversations Underway in Beijing About China’s Mining Interests in the DR Congo

DR Congo Minister of Mines N'samba Kalambayi visited the Beijing offices of mining giant China Molybdenum Company for talks with CEO Sun Ruiwan about the massive TFM cobalt mine.
Even before DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi arrived in Beijing on Wednesday, his ministers fanned across the Chinese capital earlier this week to lay the groundwork for what are going to be delicate negotiations ...

Chinese Media is Surprisingly Quiet Over DRC President’s State Visit to Beijing

Front page of the nationalist online news site Observer (观察) that made no mention of DRC President Félix Tshisekedi's state visit that began on Wednesday.
Congolese ministers have been in Beijing all week preparing for Wednesday’s arrival of President Félix Tshisekedi. Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula met with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on Monday and Mining Minister N’samba Kalambayi ...

The Chinese EV That Comes With a Uniquely South African Feature: Load Shedding Back Up

Image via BYD.
Chinese EV major BYD will launch its new compact electric crossover next month in South Africa. The BYD Atto 3 is a pretty standard EV with a range of about 420km. While car ...

Mix of Gratitude and Fear in Ghana Over China’s Role in the Country’s Ongoing Debt Crisis

File image of Ghanaian President President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo. Nipah Dennis / AFP
Joy News, one of Ghana’s largest media companies, published a pair of stories this week that revealed the complex emotions many in the West African country have about China’s role in the ongoing debt crisis. ...

South Africa’s Crumbling Railways Are Becoming a Threat to Global Supply Chains

Traffic on South Africa’s main railway line that connects the country’s urban hubs of Johannesburg and Pretoria with Africa’s largest port in Durban operated at just 25% capacity last week — hobbled by ...

The Uphill Journey to a BRICS Currency

The wide fluctuation in value of the current five BRICS currencies presents a barrier to a unified currency. Graphs via Business Day.
The South African government announced in May that discussions around setting up a common currency will be on the agenda of the BRICS summit in August. Calls for the bloc, made up of Brazil, ...

The Growing Influence of Chinese Policing in Africa

About 40 African countries have formal law enforcement agreements with China. These have increased rapidly over the last five years. Map via Africa Center for Strategic Studies
While joint military exercises between China and countries like South Africa draw controversy, much less attention is being paid to the role of policing in Africa-China relations. A fascinating new paper by the ...

Hunan’s Trade With Africa is Up 90% in 2023

Chinese customs officers inspect some of the 45 tons of recently arrived Kenyan avocados. Image via Xinhua.
The central Chinese province of Hunan has spent years positioning itself as an African trading hub, and according to the latest customs data, its efforts are now paying significant dividends. Trade between the ...

China Angry With Japan Over G7 Joint Statement, Labels Accusations as “Hype”

Statement by the Chinese embassy in Tokyo condemning the G7's final communiqué that was sharply critical of Beijing.
The Chinese government lodged a formal complaint to Japan over the wording of the G7 communiqué published over the weekend.  Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Saturday that China felt it ...
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