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

With Sales Slowing at Home, Chinese EV Giant BYD Looks to New Markets in the Global South

Electric SUVs are a key product line in BYD's international expansion. Image via AFP
September sales of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in China increased at the slowest pace in five months, providing fresh hints that relentless COVID lockdowns and a slowing Chinese economy may ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Consumer Preferences Now Influencing Ford’s SUV Sales in Other Global South Markets

Chinese consumer preferences for styling and vehicle interiors are now influencing the models sold in Latin America and other regions in the new Ford Territory SUV crossover. Image via Ford Motor Company.
The new Ford Territory SUV crossover that will go on sale next year in Mexico will feature styling and interior features that were conceived for Chinese consumers. The Territory is the product of ...
by Eric Olander

Nigeria Awards Huawei Contract to Build Electronic Border Surveillance System

File image of Nigerian border crossing. Image via the Federal Governmnt of Nigeria.
Huawei will build a new satellite-based electronic monitoring system along sections of Nigeria’s 5,000-kilometer border in a bid to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and to provide early detection of security threats. ...
by Eric Olander

One of China’s Leading Mideast Scholars Expresses Sympathy For Iranian Protestors, Testing the Limits of What’s Acceptable in His Own Country

Fan Hongda is a Professor at the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University.
One of China’s most prominent Mideast scholars, Fan Hongda from the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University, is expressing solidarity with anti-government protestors in Iran on social media. At the ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Battery Giant CATL Bets on the Future of Cobalt By Buying a Big Chunk of CMOC

Exterior of one of Chinese EV battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology office buildings.
Strong demand for electric vehicles around the world helped to triple profits at Chinese battery giant CATL, the world’s largest battery maker. The company is reporting that third-quarter profits for the year will ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese-Built Plant to Turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s Biggest Steel Producer

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa (middle, wearing a multicolored scarf) at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Dinson steelworks. Image via the Zimbabwe Chinese Network WeChat page.
A new Chinese-led plant could turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s largest producer of iron and steel. Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa led the groundbreaking ceremony of the new $1.5 billion project, led by Dinson Iron ...
by Cobus van Staden

Libya Blockbuster Leads China’s National Day Movie Releases

Movie poster for the hugely popular Chinese movie "Home Coming" which tells the story of the 2011 evacuation of Chinese personnel from Libya.
Home Coming led China’s National Day holiday box office bonanza, racking up $144 million in ticket sales during its first week of release. The holiday is usually marked with movies aimed ...
by Cobus van Staden

Xinjiang Human Rights Council Vote Prompts Spirited Debate in Asia Over Why Governments Backed China

The vote tally from last week's draft resolution A/HRC/51/L.6 on holding a debate on the situation of human rights in Xinjiang that did not pass.
The two Asian governments with the world’s largest Muslim populations, Indonesia and India, have been on the defensive in recent days for their vote last Thursday at the United Nations ...
by Eric Olander

After Months of Delay, China Finally Begins Debt Restructuring Talks With Sri Lanka

Brad Setser is a former U.S. Treasury Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe informed the country’s parliament late last week that China had finally agreed to begin long-desired debt restructuring talks. During a recent visit to Tokyo, President Wickremesinghe ...
by Eric Olander

Arab Barometer: Arab Publics Favorable Views of China Decline the More They Learn About Chinese Foreign Policy

Countries surveyed in the Arab Barometer public opinion poll on views towards the U.S. and China. Image via Arab Barometer.
Two of the lead researchers at Princeton University’s Arab Barometer public opinion survey project shared some additional insights about the findings from their 2021 poll on how people in the MENA region perceive ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Zambian Is Preparing for the First Round of Talks With Creditors on How to Restructure Its $14.87 Billion Debt

The President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, speaks at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town on May 9, 2022. RODGER BOSCH / AFP
Zambian Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said his ministry is preparing for the first round of talks with creditors on how to restructure the country’s $14.87 billion debt.  During a public meeting on Monday, Musokotwane refused to ...
by Eric Olander

One of China’s Largest BRI Builders Faces Economic Headwinds at Home

Exterior of the China Communications Construction Corporation building in Beijing, China.
Business is booming for the China Communications Construction Company. It is one of the world’s largest construction companies and built many of China’s iconic BRI projects, including the controversial Port of Hambantota in ...
by Eric Olander

African Consumers Still Want Huawei Smartphones Even Without Google’s Services

South African telecom operator Telkom's best-selling high-end smartphone brands in 2021.
When Huawei was added to the U.S. entities list in August 2020 that blocked the Chinese telecom giant from using American technology on its smartphones, most notably Google’s Android operating system, 
by Eric Olander

Don’t Be Misled by All the Headlines About Apple Shifting Its Manufacturing out of China

File image of workers at a Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China assembling Apple computers. STR / AFP
Throughout much of 2022, Apple has been diversifying its manufacturing operations in Asia beyond China. India and Vietnam, in particular, appear to be the primary beneficiaries. This year alone, in fact, 
by Eric Olander

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 ...

China and India’s Bumpy Road to An “Asian Century”

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Zhou Bo: China is not a newcomer to the Indian Ocean, India needs to adapt to China's "South Asian presence"
China and India must find ways of tolerating each other’s military rise to ensure the dawn of an “Asian Century.”  So argued Zhou Bo, a former official in China’s Ministry of Defense and ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s Share of Nigeria’s Public Debt Now Stands at 3.8%, According to New Government Data

Source: Nigeria Debt Management Office. Image via The Cable.
Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) released updated figures this week on the country’s ballooning public debt. The country’s lending jumped by more than $3 billion in the three-month period from March ...
by Eric Olander

World Bank: China’s COVID-19 Restrictions Contributes to Africa’s Economic Woes

Cover image of the World Bank's 2022 Africa Pulse report that warned, among other things, of the dangers to the continent's economic growth due to a slowdown in demand from China.
The World Bank issued a sobering economic forecast for Africa on Wednesday, warning of a sharp slowdown in growth due to the multiple global crises that are disproportionately impacting the continent. Rising inflation, ...
by Eric Olander

Solomon Islands Explains It Wanted China References Stripped From U.S.-Pacific Island Countries’ Accord

U.S. President Joe Biden posing with Pacific Island leaders during the U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 29, 2022. Oliver Contreras / AFP
The Solomon Islands caused a bit of a stir last month at a summit in Washington, D.C. when it refused to sign an initial draft of an accord between the U.S. and more ...
by Eric Olander

India’s Air Force Commander Provides New Details on the Hijacking Hoax Involving China-bound Airliner

Indian Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari briefed the media on Tuesday about the hoax hijacking of an Iranian airliner that prompted the air force to scramble fighter jets.
New details are emerging about what happened when the captain of an Iranian airliner called in a bomb threat on Monday en route to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. In ...
by Eric Olander

While More U.S. Companies Are Moving Production From China to India, Ford is Heading in The Other Direction

Image via Ford China.
Apple is one of a growing number of international companies moving quickly to diversify its manufacturing operations away from China to other countries in Asia, particularly India. In fact, the ...
by Eric Olander

All Portuguese-speaking Countries Move Up in Chinese Infrastructure Development Index

File image of the Chinese-financed and built city of Kilamba Kiaxi, 30 kilometers from Luanda, Angola. Griffin Shea / AFP
All eight of the world’s Portuguese-speaking edged higher in a key Chinese infrastructure development index that assesses the investment climate in 71 countries around the world. Brazil, Angola, and Portugal were the highest ...
by Eric Olander

Sicomines’ Expat Staff in the DRC Mark China’s National Day With a Patriotic Song Competition

Chinese employees of the Congolese joint venture mining company Sicomines celebrated Saturday's National Day holiday by singing patriotic songs. Image via Africa Yellow and Black.
230 expatriate staff members from the Congolese joint venture mining giant Sicomines gathered over the weekend in the Congolese mining city of Kolwezi to celebrate the Chinese National Day holiday with a patriotic ...
by Eric Olander

China Sends High-Level Public Security Bureau Official to DR Congo For Talks on How to Better Protect Chinese Nationals

Liu Jingjie (center right), head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Public Security Bureau, met with Congolese officials to discuss the security of nationals in the DRC. Image via the Chinese embassy in the DRC.
The Chinese government recently dispatched a high-ranking member of the powerful Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for talks with security officials on how to better protect ...
by Eric Olander

Contrary to Public Perception, China is Actually Just a Bit Player in the African Mining Sector

While China is a major player in the DR Congo’s mining sector, that is not the case elsewhere on the continent, according to a new report by the African Climate Foundation. In fact, China’s ...
by Eric Olander

Clarification: The Chinese Victims of Last Week’s Gun Attack in Karachi Were Pakistan Citizens, Not Dual Citizens

The Pakistani national identification card of Ronald Raymond Chou, one of there victims of a suspected terrorist attack last week in Karachi.
A number of international media outlets including Al Jazeera, Reuters, and the Associated Press, incorrectly reported last week that the three Chinese victims of a shooting attack at a dental clinic in the Pakistani port city of Karachi ...
by Eric Olander

The China in Africa Podcast Recognized by the Carnegie Endowment as One of “The Best Foreign Policy Podcasts”

The podcast team at The China-Global South Project received a happy surprise over the weekend when our China in Africa show was named among “The Best Foreign Policy Podcasts” by the prestigious think ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Namibia Is Emerging as a Key Lithium Producer for the Chinese Market

Namibian President Hage Geingob speaking on the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo via the Hage Geingob Twitter feed.
Namibia is emerging as a key lithium producer for the Chinese market. In August, 25,000 tons of the strategic metal were shipped from the Port of Walvis Bay with another 50,000 tons prepped to ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese National Killed, Two Others Injured When Gunman Opened Fire in a Karachi Dental Clinic

Policemen gather outside a dental clinic after an ethnically Chinese man was shot dead in an attack in Karachi on September 28, 2022. A gunman killed a man and wounded two others of Chinese ethnicity in an attack in Pakistan on September 28, police said. Asif HASSAN / AFP
Pakistani authorities now believe that a gunman “singled out and targeted” an ethnically Chinese-owned dental clinic in Karachi in an attack that killed one and injured two.
by Eric Olander

Two-Day China-Zambia Investment Forum Gets Underway in Lusaka

Image via the President Hakainde Hichilema Twitter Profile @HHichilema
Zambian President Haikinde Hichilema, alongside Chinese ambassador Du Xiaohui opened a two-day investment forum on Wednesday in the capital Lusaka that aims to bring together businesses from both countries and generate more FDI. ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Contractors Almost Finished Upgrading Nairobi’s International Airport Terminals

The first photos of the newly-built international terminals 1B and C at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. Images via the Kenya Airports Authority.
Kenyans got their first look at the newly-upgraded international terminals at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, which will soon reopen to the public. The $8 million facelift of terminals 1B and C took ...
by Eric Olander
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