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

Ghanaian Government Steps Up Illegal Mining Crackdown in the Wake of Aisha Huang Arrest

Suspected illegal miners Ghana arrested in a recent military crackdown. Image via the Ghanaian military.
Ghanaian security forces arrested 164 people last week in a new crackdown on the illegal small-scale gold mining known as “galamsey.” Many of those detained are foreigners, mostly from West African countries but none from ...
by Eric Olander

China Thinks Its Measures in Xinjiang Could Help Arab Governments Fight Islamic Extremism

The Chinese Foreign Ministry's top security official, Cheng Guoping, speaking with security analysts in the UAE about anti-terrorism in Xinjiang. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s top security official, Cheng Guoping, met with security analysts in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month to tout Beijing’s “achievements in countering anti-terrorism and de-radicalization in Xinjiang.” Cheng was joined ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: China Quietly Distributed More Than $30 Billion in “Emergency Loans” to Financially-Distressed Developing Countries in Recent Years

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivering his keynote address at FOCAC 8. Image via Xinhua.
China has quietly distributed more than $30 billion in so-called “emergency loans” to financially-distressed developing countries in recent years, according to new data compiled by AidData. Details of the loans have not been publicized ...
by Eric Olander

India Could Be a Wild Card at the SCO Summit

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the unveiling of a statue of India's independence hero Subhas Chandra Bose in New Delhi on September 8, 2022. Money SHARMA / AFP
While a possible Xi-Putin meeting dominates the headlines, another conversation on the SCO sidelines in Samarkand could signal a headache for Western powers. Speculation is mounting that President Xi could also meet with India’s Prime ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Crows As India Bails on IPEF Trade Pillar

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai (C) speaks during a ministerial pillar meeting at the Indo-Pacific Economic Ministerial in Los Angeles, California, on September 8, 2022. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
India’s prominence at the SCO summit comes at a delicate moment for the United States as India moves to limit its participation in the new U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). Indian officials said it will not ...
by Cobus van Staden

Kenya’s New President Flips on China

Chinese Special Representative for Africa, Liu Yuxi, meeting with newly-elected Kenyan President William Ruto. Image via @WilliamsRuto.
Kenya and China will “expand relations on infrastructure, agriculture, education – among other broad arrays of issues – for the mutual benefit of our countries,” according to Kenya’s new President William Ruto.  Ruto spoke during a ...
by Cobus van Staden

Kenya’s New President Faces Many Challenges, Including Balancing China

Kenya’s new President William Ruto, takes power at a complex time for the East African country. As Kenya’s economy creaks under a large debt burden, he also faces numerous regional challenges, including conflict ...
by Cobus van Staden

Logistics Shift to Mombasa to Hit SGR Profits 

File image of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway that China financed and built as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Simon Mania/AFP
One of William Ruto’s first actions as Kenyan president was to reverse a decision made by his predecessor to force logistics operators to use the Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway’s inland port in Naivasha ...
by Cobus van Staden

Galamsey Queen Update: Ghana’s President Digs the Hole Deeper

File image of Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. Issouf SANOGO / AFP
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has poured gasoline on the controversy around the recent re-arrest of En (aka Aisha) Huang, a Chinese national accused of returning to Ghana to engage in illegal gold mining despite being ...
by Cobus van Staden

More Developing Countries Choose to Stay Out of China’s Latest Spat With UN Over Human Rights in Xinjiang

China's ambassador to the UN in Geneva Chen Xu attends the opening day of the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council at the United Nations offices in Geneva on September 12, 2022. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
China’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Chen Xu, read out a forceful rebuttal on Tuesday to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s latest report that documented human rights violations in Xinjiang. ...
by Eric Olander

Sri Lanka Calls On Same Financial Advisory Firm That Worked With Zambia on Debt Restructuring

Popular protests against the Sri Lankan government's governance record. Photo: AFP
The Sri Lankan government hired the boutique Paris-based financial advisory firm Lazard to negotiate on its behalf with bilateral creditors in China, Japan, and India, among others. If that firm sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the ...
by Eric Olander

First Avocados, Now Coffee Beans… Kenya’s Expanding Agricultural Exports to China

Chinese customs inspectors at the Changsha airport in Hunan province examine raw coffee beans imported from Kenya.
A first batch of 2.04 tons of raw Kenyan coffee beans arrived in the southern Chinese city of Changsha this week, marking the opening of yet another new market for Kenyan agricultural exports ...
by Eric Olander

Kenya’s New President Meets With China’s New Special Representative For Africa

Image via @WilliamsRuto
China’s newly-named Special Representative for African Affairs, Ambassador Liu Yuxi, represented Beijing at this week’s swearing-in ceremony for Kenyan President William Ruto and the two later met for talks. No word on what ...
by Eric Olander

Confirmed: Xi Jinping Will Travel to Central Asia this Week

It’s finally been confirmed: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first foreign visit since the beginning of the pandemic will be to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this week. In addition to state visits, he’ll also attend the Shanghai ...
by Cobus van Staden

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 ...

Deportation Lapses Revealed in Ghana’s Illegal Mining Scandal

En (aka Aisha) Huang, the alleged "queen" of illegal mining during a court appearance in Accra. Image via GhanaWeb.
New revelations about how En (Aisha) Huang, Ghana’s so-called Queen of Galamsey (illegal small-scale gold mining), managed to make her way back to the country despite being deported are adding political heat to an ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Embassy Meets With DRC Ministries About Attacks

An image of the high-level meeting between the Chinese embassy and DRC government officials this week. Image via the Lualaba Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce
The Chinese embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo convened a meeting this weekend with several Congolese government ministries, including the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, as well as immigration officials and ...
by Cobus van Staden

China-DRC Military Cooperation?

DR Congo Minister of Defense Gilbert Kabanda Kurhenga met with Wang Hailong, the chargé d'affaires at the Chinese embassy in Kinshasa. Image via Congo Today.
The Defense Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo met with high-level officials from the Chinese embassy, including the military attache, to discuss possible Chinese support for the development of the DRC’s ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Car Brands Pulling Ahead in South Africa 

Chinese car brands like Chery and Haval are outselling traditional favorites like Mercedes Benz and Ford in the South African market. Both brands sold more than a thousand cars in July, far beyond ...
by Cobus van Staden

Possible Xi-Putin Summit Comes at a Critical Time in Sino-Russian Ties

Fan Hongda is a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University.
This week’s expected summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin comes at a delicate time for both countries: ?? With Russian forces now in retreat in portions ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese, Indian Military Forces Pull Back Troops From Disputed Border Area Ahead of Possible Xi-Modi Meeting

File image of Indian soldiers standing next to Bofors guns positioned at Penga Teng Tso ahead of Tawang, near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), neighboring China, in India's Arunachal Pradesh state
After months of steadily deteriorating ties between India and China, a partial pullback by military forces from both countries high in the Himalayas is a welcome bit of good news. The ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese-Processed Cobalt (Likely From the DRC) Was to Blame For the U.S. Sales Shutdown of the F-35 Fighter Jet

File image of a Lockheed Martin F-35 U.S. fighter jet. JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP
Sales in the U.S. of the advanced F-35 fighter jet were shut down after it was discovered that a magnet in the plane contained an alloy made with cobalt that ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Business Community in the Philippines Terrorized by Brutal Kidnappings

Image of what is believed to be a Chinese hostage kidnapped in the Philippines where at least 55 other Chinese nationals have recently been abducted. Image via the Philippine Network (菲常网).
The president of the Chinese chamber of commerce in the Philippines is pleading for authorities to do more to protect the local Chinese community following a spate of recent kidnappings. Lujin Ang Shengcheng ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese President Xi Jinping Will Reportedly Travel to Two Central Asian States Later This Month to Mark His Formal Return to International Diplomacy

There's been widespread speculation over which country will be the first to welcome to Chinese President Xi Jinping who has not traveled abroad since the beginning of the pandemic nearly three years ago. Selim CHTAYTI / POOL / AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly travel to two Central Asian states later this month to mark his formal return to international diplomacy. The Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan said on Monday that President Xi ...
by Eric Olander

What the U.S. Doesn’t Seem to Understand About Africa’s Ties With China

The following is a transcript of a seven-part Twitter thread written by World Politics Review Associate Editor Chris Olaoluwa Ògúnmọ́dẹdé on what he believes the U.S. doesn’t understand about ...
by Eric Olander

Arrest of Ghana’s Chinese Queen of Illegal Gold Mining Embarrasses Government

An image of En ('Aisha') Huang's national ID card, via Bright Simons's Twitter feed.
The re-arrest of a Chinese national deported from Ghana in 2018 for illegal small-scale gold mining (known in Ghana as galamsey) is causing a media sensation and raising many embarrassing questions. Reporting about ...
by Eric Olander

Thai Electric Vehicle Subsidy Draws Chinese Giant

Jade GAO / AFP
The Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD will set up its first production facility in Thailand. The move is expected to put pressure on other manufacturers who are also foregrounding Thai business due ...
by Eric Olander

Zambia is Going to Look Easy Compared to the Financial Mess in Sri Lanka

Billboard in Colombo announces the return of ousted former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa who ended his self-imposed exile in Thailand and came back to the island on September 4, 2022. Amal JAYASINGHE / AFP
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 ...
by Eric Olander

She’s Baaaaack! The Once Convicted “Galamsey Queen” is Arrested Again For Illegal Mining in Ghana

En (aka Aisha) Huang, the alleged "queen" of illegal mining during a court appearance in Accra. Image via GhanaWeb.
Aisha Huang made a stunning reappearance in Ghana this week when she appeared in an Accra circuit court with three accomplices to face charges of illegal mining. Huang is one of the most ...
by Eric Olander

China Tries to Rally Support For Its Policies in Xinjiang in Indonesia, the World’s Largest Muslim Country

China’s ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Deng Xijun, published a scathing op-ed in The Jakarta Post on Tuesday aimed at debunking the recently published report on Xinjiang by ...
by Eric Olander

Thousands of Young People Gather Across Africa to Speak With Astronauts Aboard the Chinese Space Station

Chinese embassies in Africa organized the first-ever #ChinaAfricaSpaceTalk on Tuesday that connected young people across the continent with three astronauts aboard the Chinese Space Station. The event, organized in conjunction with ...
by Eric Olander
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