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

China’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Issues Angry Denunciation of the West and Argues Beijing Should Be Kingdom’s Preferred Partner

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: "What kind of foreign relations do we need?"
Any time a senior U.S. official like the President or the Secretary of State travels to a region where the Chinese have a strong interest, one can expect the publication of a scathing ...
by Eric Olander

What the Redwood Business is Like in Africa – Risky But Worth It

Long Wanchen outside his timber warehouse in Ogun State in Nigeria. Source: Weixin
Although the world is aware of the Chinese private sector’s growing influence in African markets, there is rarely any information on Chinese people’s experience being an entrepreneur on the continent.  The Congo Online ...
by Han Zhen

The Stereotypes Are Untrue – Africans Are Not Lazy, Greedy, or Deceitful

Yi Yun's Bililbili Webpage
Mainstream Chinese perceptions of Africa and Africans are largely very rudimentary, even crude in some instances. In fact, many of the caricatures that are now widely seen in Chinese media are reminiscent of ...
by Han Zhen

My Work Experience in Africa

Construction site in Nigeria. Source: 微信公众号 驻外之家
There’s a lot of international media coverage of Chinese mining operations in Africa, but we rarely read about Chinese mining employees’ experiences in the African countries where they spend years living and working. ...
by Han Zhen

Zambia Slashes Billions of Unused Loans, Many From China, to Address Debt Woes

Joseph Cotterill is the Financial Times' correspondent in Johannesburg.
Beyond the statements issued by the Zambian Creditor Committee (via the G20), the Ministry of Finance, the World Bank, and the IMF, very few specifics about the arrangement have been made public. There’s much speculation about what loans ...
by Eric Olander

Blinken Heads to Southeast Asia and Africa With an Eye on Russia, Not China

(L-R) Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Koichi Hagiuda speaks alongside Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo listen during a joint news conference at the US-Japan Economic Policy Consultative Committee (EPCC) meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC, on July 29, 2022. TOM BRENNER / POOL / AFP
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will begin a nine-day, five-nation tour in Asia and Africa on Tuesday, with the first stop in Cambodia for two days of ASEAN meetings with Southeast Asian ...
by Eric Olander

China, Kenya Cut the Ribbon on Hugely Important Infrastructure Financing Experiment

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta together with Chinese ambassador Zhou Pingjian opened the Chinese-financed and constructed Nairobi Expressway on Saturday.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, together with Ambassador Zhou Pingjian, officially commissioned the $650 million Nairobi Expressway on Sunday. The project is gearing up to be the most important infrastructure financing test underway in ...
by Eric Olander

Finally! Kenyan Avocados Make It to China

The first shipment of Kenyan avocados arrived in Shanghai on July 27, 2022 after more than three years of negotiations. Image via @WUPENG_MFACHINA.
The first batch of Kenyan avocados will soon appear on store shelves in Shanghai. This follows last week’s arrival of the fruit after more than three years of prolonged, often difficult negotiations. All of ...
by Eric Olander

China Should Leverage Its Strengths in Development to Compete With the U.S. in the Middle East, Says Leading Expert

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: "Great power competition and the constantly changing Middle East"
U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia put Great Power competition with China in the Middle East into sharp focus. But one of China’s leading Mideast scholars, Fan Hongda, a professor at ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: China’s Belt and Road Financing and Investments Fell in the First Half of the Year

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking at a Belt and Road conference in Beijing on November 19, 2022. Image via Xinhua.
China’s Belt and Road financing and investments fell in the first half of the year, with no new spending in Russia, Sri Lanka, and Egypt, according to a study by the Green Finance & ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Netizens Aren’t Keen to Bail Out Sri Lanka

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: "China doesn't owe Sri Lanka anything, let's figure out who Sri Lanka owes a huge debt"
While international calls grow louder for China to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt obligations, a very different conversation is going on in Chinese media and online communities.  Antara Ghosal Singh, an expert on Chinese ...
by Eric Olander

China Accuses U.S. of Trying to “Suppress” Its Influence in Africa

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused the United States of trying to suppress its influence in Africa in response to the latest criticism of Beijing by the U.S. military’s top commander for ...
by Eric Olander

Why This New Chinese Cement Factory in Tanzania is So Important

Groundbreaking ceremony for the Huaxin Maweni factory in Tanzania. Image via the Chinese embassy in Tanzania.
Chinese cement major Huaxin broke ground this week on a new factory in Tanzania that is likely being seen as an important milestone for Chinese construction engagement in Africa. African stakeholders have long ...
by Eric Olander

China’s AU Ambassador Conducts Site Inspection of New Africa CDC HQ Construction

China’s ambassador to the African Union, Hu Changchun, led a site inspection this week of the Chinese-financed construction of the new headquarters of the African Center for Disease Control headquarters in the Ethiopian ...
by Eric Olander

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 ...

Indonesia’s Decision to Block Exports of Unprocessed Nickel is Paying Off Big Time

File image of a worker operating a nickel-smelting furnace in Indonesia. Bannu MAZANDRA / AFP
Indonesia is the envy of commodity-exporting countries throughout the Global South, who have long tried to find a way to force foreign mining companies to process raw materials domestically prior to export. Unfortunately ...
by Eric Olander

Israel is Becoming the Role Model For How the U.S. Wants Its Allies to Deal With China, Says Foreign Policy Expert

File image of Chinese President Xi Jinping during bilateral talks in 2017 with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Etienne Oliveau / POOL / AFP
Israel is emerging as a role model for how the United States wants its allies around the world to distance themselves from economic and technical engagement with China, according to Ilan Berman, vice ...
by Eric Olander

Kenya’s Foreign Exchange Reserves Fall Due to Repayment of Railway Loans to China

The grand opening of the Chinese-built and financed Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya that Nairobi is now repaying. Simon Mania/AFP
The Kenyan government cut a check for $226 million last week to service its debts to the China Exim Bank for the loans used to build the Standard Gauge Railway. The Kenyan Central ...
by Eric Olander

African Countries Among 70 States That Took Part in Chinese Human Rights Forum

TWEET TRANSLATION: The Beijing Human Rights Forum was held today. Ms. Linda Lubamba, Advisor in charge of the fight against gender-based violence at the Congolese Ministry of Human Rights, gave a speech via videoconference on the theme "Development."
On Tuesday, representatives from 70 countries, including many from Africa, participated in the Beijing Forum on Human Rights, which effectively served as a platform for China to present an alternative international framework for human rights. ...
by Eric Olander

Check This Out… Shaolin Kung Fu in Zambia

The Shaolin Cultural Center in the Zambian capital Lusaka recently held an event to show off the talents of some of their incredible students, both kids and adults, who’ve become masters of this ancient ...
by Eric Olander

Widodo’s Beijing Visit Gets Sucked Into U.S.-China Feud

A quote from the nationalist Chinese tabloid newspaper Global Times in reference to U.S. Chairman of the Joints of Staff, General Mark Milley's remarks about China becoming more "aggressive."
China’s fiercely nationalistic Global Times newspaper took the lead in pushing back on criticism by high-level U.S. officials that the writers describe as an attempt by Washington to undermine Tuesday’s meeting between Indonesian ...
by Cobus van Staden

Two Southeast Asian States Stand Out in Pew’s Latest U.S. vs. China Public Opinion Survey

Singapore and Malaysia stood apart in Pew Research’s latest public opinion poll that surveyed 25,000 respondents in 19 middle and high-income countries about their perceptions of China and the United States. While public views of China ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Defense Minister Convenes Second China-Africa Peace and Security Forum Ministerial Meeting

Chinese Defense Minister, General Wei Fenghe, delivered the keynote address at Monday's China-Africa Peace and Security Forum Ministerial Meeting. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Defense.
Senior defense officials from at least 48 African countries took part in the second China-Africa Peace and Security Forum Ministerial Meeting that took place online on Monday. General Wei Fenghe, China’s defense minister, delivered ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Authorities Arrest Owner of Car Covered in Nazi Symbols After Israeli Protest

Image via the Israeli Consulate General in Chengdu.
Police in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan arrested the owner of a small passenger car with decals of Nazi symbols on it. The vehicle was brought to the attention of authorities by the ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Gambled When It Lent A Lot of Money to the World’s Poorest Countries. Now Those Bets Are in Real Trouble.

With a growing number of developing countries facing acute debt distress, many to Chinese creditors, Beijing may soon be forced to abandon its long-held policy of refusing to cancel concessional and commercial loans. ...
by Eric Olander

One of Kenya’s Two Leading Presidential Candidates Says He’ll Publish All Chinese Contracts if Elected

Kenya's Deputy President and leading presidential candidate, William Ruto, speaking during an interview at his office in Nairobi on July 18, 2022. Simon Mania/AFP.
Kenya’s presidential front-runner William Ruto made it clear that if he wins next month’s presidential election in Kenya he will publish the multi-billion dollar Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) loan contract with the China Road and ...
by Eric Olander

NYT Columnist Argues China’s Inexperience in Managing a Debt Crisis Poses Systemic Risk for the Global Economy

While rapidly deteriorating economic conditions in developing countries is major news around the world, it barely registers in the United States. So, it was notable on Friday when New York Times Columnist Peter Coy ...
by Eric Olander

While the U.S. Government Wants to Reduce Dependence on Chinese EV Battery Makers, Ford Motor Has Other Plans

JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP
The Ford Motor Company announced a number of important deals with major Chinese mining and battery manufacturers to bolster the supply chain of critical resources needed to power its new line-up of electric ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Warned That Asian Countries Are at Risk of Becoming “Chess Pieces”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (r) at a news conference on July 12 in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. Photo: Andrea Verdelli/Pool/AFP
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that Asian countries are at risk of becoming “chess pieces” in the burgeoning geopolitical rivalry with the United States. Instead, he argued to the ASEAN Secretariat on Monday ...
by Eric Olander

Backgrounder: How Chinese Infrastructure is Reshaping ASEAN Trade

Barges on Guangxi Province's Xijiang River, which will soon be connected to the Beibu Gulf via a new canal. Image via China Daily
Even as China’s territorial wrangles with some of its South China Sea neighbors show no sign of letting up, Chinese infrastructure is taking its trade relations with Southeast Asia to new levels.  In ...
by Cobus van Staden

How India Juggles the Superpowers

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a recent BRICS Summit, Image: Sergio Lima/AFP
As geopolitical groups and counter-groups crowd the landscape, India is seemingly everywhere at once. It is a prominent member of China-aligned groups like the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). It is ...
by Cobus van Staden
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Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
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Indonesia Goes Nuclear, Taps China and Russia for Modular Reactors
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