Follow CGSP on Social Media

Listen to the CGSP Podcast

News Feed

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: Foreign Minister Wang Yi Said China Willing To “Play a Constructive Role” at Upcoming APEC Summit in November

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrives in Türkiye on Wednesday for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. ELMOND JIYANE / GCIS / AFP
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is willing to “play a constructive role” at the upcoming APEC summit in November but wouldn’t confirm if President Xi Jinping will attend. Xi stayed home from both ...

$1.3 Billion Chinese Investment in Zambian Copper Sector as EU Readies Competing Deal

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema meeting the management of Chinese mining giant China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Company (CNMC) on 27 September 2023 in Lusaka. Image via @HHichilema
The Chinese mining giant China Non-Ferrous Metals Mining Company (CNMC) announced a plan to invest $1.3 billion in Zambia across a range of sectors. The agreement, announced by CNMC chairperson Xi Zhengping, includes a ...

Climate Graph of the Day: After a Rapid Increase, China’s Oil Demand May Have Peaked

After decades of ever-growing oil use, China’s oil demand may have peaked this year, according to Chinese oil executives cited by FT. This has significant implications for countries from Angola to Russia ...

A Debt Deal for Sri Lanka Without China?

Arun SANKAR / AFP
Some members of Sri Lanka’s creditor committee are reportedly promoting an agreement to restructure the bankrupt country’s debt without China. According to a report by Bloomberg, the United States, Japan and India ...

Revealed: The Issues Complicating a Key Belt and Road Project in Pakistan

A train line is only one of numerous infrastructure projects forming the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) a prominent Belt and Road project. Image: Arif Ali / AFP
China is apparently balking at proposals from Pakistan to expand cooperation in their shared China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), revealing growing problems in the key Belt and Road Initiative project. These were revealed by a ...

China, Philippines Tensions Surge After Manila Removes Barrier in South China Sea

The Philippine Coast Guard says it removed a 300 meter floating barrier installed by Chinese maritime forces in the South China Sea. Image via the Philippine Coast Guard.
Already strained ties between China and the Philippines worsened further on Tuesday following the announcement by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) that it successfully removed a 300-meter barrier that Chinese maritime forces installed ...

China’s Top Diplomat to New Delhi Calls for “Friendly Coexistence” With India

Chargé d’Affaires Ma Jia, is China's highest ranking diplomat in New Delhi. China has not been without an ambassador to India for the past 11 months. Image via the Chinese embassy in India.
The Chargé d’Affaires at the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, Ma Jia, Beijing’s most senior diplomat in India, renewed a call for the two Asian powers to “normalize” their relations in a bid ...

China-Backed AIIB Admits Three New Members, Announces New Climate Finance Initiative

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank President Jin Liquan delivered the keynote address at the bank's annual meeting in Egypt. Image via @AIIB_Official.
The Chinese-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank wrapped up its two-day annual meeting in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh on Tuesday and announced that three new members, all non-Asian, would be ...

The West’s Answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative is Already Encountering Resistance… From Turkey

Map of the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
The hugely ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) multi-modal trade route is already beginning to encounter resistance just weeks after being announced at the G20 leaders summit in New Delhi. IMEC is the latest ...

After Siding With the West, Liberia is Now Aligned With China on Sensitive Territorial Issues

Liberia's Deputy Foreign Minister Deweh Gray endorsed Beijing's One-China policy at a National Day celebration this week at the Chinese embassy in Monrovia. Image via Liberian Observer.
Deweh Gray, a deputy foreign minister in Liberia, told an audience at the Chinese embassy in Monrovia on Tuesday that her government firmly supports Beijing’s One-China policy. For most countries, that’s not a ...

U.S. Charm Offensive to Pacific Island States Amid China Worries

U.S. President Joe Biden (fourth from right) puts his arm around the shoulders of Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown as the leaders pose at the White House. Image: Jim Watson / AFP
A summit between the United States and the Pacific Islands Forum that started in Washington on Monday is the newest signal that Washington plans to increase its presence in the region in response to ...

China Reacts to U.S.-Vietnam Arms Talks

File image of U.S. President Joe Biden (sencond left) meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Vo Van Thuong (second right) during his state visit in September. Image Nhac Nguyen / AFP
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin commented on a report this weekend that the United States is in talks with Vietnam about a massive arms deal. Wang’s response was measured: Asian countries share a desire for ...

$23 Billion of Deals Signed at China-Arab Trade Fair

Representatives from 60 countries attended this year's China-Arab Trade Expo in the northwest region of Ningxia. Images via Xinhua.
The China-Arab Trade Expo closed on Sunday in the northwestern region of Ningxia with $23.4 billion in deals signed. As is customary with these kinds of announcements, Chinese officials did not release any ...

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz Wants to Lead the Effort to Curtail China’s Growing Influence in Latin America

US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing to examine advancing next generation aviation technologies, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 29, 2023. Stefani Reynolds / AFP
U.S. anxieties about China’s increasingly influential presence in Latin America and the Caribbean will be a popular topic of discussion on Capitol Hill this week. Conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz will introduce a ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Philippine Fishing Fleets Urged to Maintain Presence at Disputed Shoal as Tensions Build

The Philippine coastguard called on its country’s fishing fleets to keep operating around the Scarborough Shoal (known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines and Huangyan Dao in China) despite the large Chinese presence in the disputed South China Sea area.
Coastguard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said while Philippine government vessels can’t maintain a constant presence, they are committed to protecting the country’s fishing rights in what it sees as its Exclusive Economic Zone.

...

Chinese Contractor Pledges to Complete Nigerian Capital’s Light Rail in Eight Months

Jason Cheng (center), chairman of the Chinese contractor CCECC, assured Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima that the Abuja light rail will only take eight months to build. Image via @officialSKSM.
Lead the Conversation on China Subscribe Today to Get Full Access to The China-Global South Project ...

U.S. Acknowledges It Can’t Cut China Out of the EV Battery Supply Chain

A Ford worker in the United States assembles a new electric powered F-150 Lightening pick-up truck that is powered by a bettery with that uses Chinese-processed minerals and metals. JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP
For much of the past year, since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, U.S. officials have spoken at length about the urgent need to remove China from the critical ...

Vietnamese EV-Brand VinFast Hopes Possible EU Sanctions Against Chinese Electric Cars Will Give It an Opening

Nhac NGUYEN / AFP
Vietnamese electric vehicle company Vinfast plans to ship its first batch of 3,000 VF8 crossovers to Europe later this year and the upstart EV brand may even get an assist from European Union ...

Blockbuster Movie Scares Chinese Tourists Away From Thailand

Movie poster for the hugely-popular Chinese movie "No More Bets" that was set in Thailand.
Chinese tourists landing in Bangkok on Monday were greeted with a heroes welcome, including Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who went to the airport to personally welcome the first batch of visa-free visitors.

WEEK IN REVIEW: ASEAN Kicked off First-Ever Joint Naval Drills in South China Sea on Tuesday

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) kicked off its first-ever joint naval drills in the South China Sea on Tuesday near Indonesia’s Nantuna island. The five-day exercise comes at a sensitive time when ...

Nepal Walks a China-India-U.S. Tightrope as Prime Minister Heads to Beijing

File image of Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (L) meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a previous term in office in 2017. Image: Lintao Zhang / AFP
Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (nicknamed “Prachanda”) arrives in China on Friday for the second overseas visit since he took office. His first, in June, was to India, and the choice of destinations ...

Climate Change Dilemma: How Can the Global South Get Rich from Their Own Minerals?

Local workers at the massive Chinese-owned Tenke Fungurume copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Image: Emmet Livingstone / AFP
This week, the Democratic Republic of Congo convened its inaugural DRC-Africa Battery Metals Forum in Kinshasa. Under the theme “Creating Wealth for the DRC and Africa’s Battery Metals Industry Value Chain,” the event tackles ...

Kuwait’s Crown Prince Heads to China

File image of Kuwait's Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who is looking to China to help develop the emirate's oil-dependent economy to more diversified post-carbon industries.
Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah left for China on Wednesday for an official visit that will likely include a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (the Foreign Ministry has to confirm ...

BRI Isn’t Intended to Undermine the West, Says China’s EU Ambassador

China's Ambassador to the European Union, Fu Cong, acknowledged the Western criticisms of the BRI but said it was more important for Beijing to listen to the feedback from recipient countries instead. Image via Euractiv.
Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassador to the European Union in Brussels, challenged the widely-held perception in Brussels and other Western capitals that the Belt and Road Initiative aims to undermine U.S. and European ...

Republican Lawmakers in the U.S. Propose Yet Another Strategy to Challenge China’s Belt and Road Initiative

A trio of GOP representatives want the State Department to come up with a new strategy to counteract China's "debt trap diplomacy disguised as infrastructure development." Paul J. RICHARDS / AFP
Three Republican legislators in the United States feel enough isn’t being done to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative and want the State Department to come up with yet another plan to blunt ...

Prominent Chinese Professor Explains Why the U.S., Not China is Actually to Blame for Global South Debt Distress

Tsinghua University professor Tang Xiaoyang makes is a leading architect of China's rebuttal against Western accusations that China engages in predatory lending to developing countries.
One of China’s foremost scholars on international debt says accusations that Beijing engages in predatory lending, or “debt trap diplomacy” do not align with the facts — and that it’s actually the U.S., ...

China’s Two-Pronged Auto Export Strategy: EVs to the North, Gas-Powered to the South

AFP
Analysts are forecasting Chinese automakers will ship 5 million vehicles this year, solidifying the country’s position as the world’s largest auto exporter. But there’s a stark discrepancy in terms of what kind of ...

Chinese Flag Mysteriously Appears at Protest in Niger

AFP
Russian flags have become a regular sight among supporters of military juntas that have thrown governments across West Africa this year — but never a Chinese flag, until now. A bright red five-star ...

What Does Chinese Lending to Africa Look Like Now?

Source: Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database, 2023. Boston University Global Development Policy Center.
China has been one of the most important development lenders to Africa over the last quarter of a century. This has transformed the African development landscape in helpful and problematic ways. It is ...
Page 1 of 12712…127