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

It’s Been a Big Week for Chinese Infrastructure Development in Africa

The new Lagos light rail in Nigeria (top left), the Lekki Deep Sea Port, also in Lagos (top right), the Kingfisher oil drilling platform in Uganda (lower left) and the Central African Cultural and Arts Center in Kinshasa that's still under construction (bottom right).
Two U.S. cabinet secretaries are currently touring Africa to fulfill President Joe Biden’s promise that the United States is “all in” when it comes to bolstering ties with countries across the continent. A key ...
by Eric Olander

Hard to Believe But Huawei’s Still Got a Smartphone Business in South Africa

The Huawei Mate50 high-end smartphone will go on sale in South Africa on February 1st. Image via Huawei.
Even though Huawei’s mobile phone business is just a fraction of the size it was before the U.S. slapped crippling sanctions on the company, blocking it from using Google and other American technology, ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Ambassador to the DR Congo to Leave

Outgoing Chinese ambassador to the DR Congo, Zhu Jing, during a vist to say good-bye to Defense Minister Gilbert Kabanda. Image via Luben Today.
Chinese ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo stopped by the Defense Ministry in Kinshasa this week to say goodbye to Minister Gilbert Kabanda.  Zhu also left a parting gift of $27 ...
by Eric Olander

Massive New Chinese-financed Cultural Center Takes Shape in Kinshasa

Three years after Chinese contractors broke ground to build the new Central African Cultural and Arts Center in the DR Congo capital of Kinshasa, the 36,000-square-meter development is now taking shape. Outgoing Chinese ambassador to ...
by Eric Olander

Countries in Asia and the Americas Account For Half of China’s Total Auto Exports

China is on the verge of displacing Germany to become the world’s second-largest auto exporting nation (Japan is #1). This is a remarkable accomplishment given the speed that China’s automakers have gained international ...
by Eric Olander

China Tells Janet Yellen U.S. Is in No Position To Criticize Beijing on Debt Issues in Zambia

The Chinese embassy in Zambia's angry response to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's accusation this week that Beijing is a "barrier" in the debt restructuring process.
The Chinese embassy in Lusaka clapped back at U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for her remarks that Beijing was acting as a “barrier” in Zambia’s drawn-out debt restructuring process. In a sharply worded ...
by Eric Olander

The South African Government May Be Edging Closer to China, Russia But Its People Seem to Prefer the West, Says New Poll

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday during the last stop of her ten-day, three-nation Africa tour. Yellen’s arrival in Pretoria comes one day after a ...
by Eric Olander

Why Chinese Lending to Pacific Island Countries Has Steadily Declined in Recent Years

Source: Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map
Chinese lending to Pacific Island Countries (PICs) is now at its lowest level in 15 years, according to new data published by the Australian think tank Lowy Institute. The findings may come as ...
by Eric Olander

Xi Issues Call For Solidarity Among Developing Nations in Video Address to Latin American Leaders Summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking remotely to leaders at the seventh Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Image via Xinhua.
Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the final day of a leaders summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, where he renewed calls for closer coordination among ...
by Eric Olander

Washington’s Top Commander for U.S. Forces in the Americas Says China’s Growing Presence in the Region ‘Keeps Her Up At Night’

The top commander for U.S. military forces in the Western Hemisphere, General Laura Richardson, speaks out regularly on the growing Chinese presence in the Americas. Image via The Atlantic Council.
Prior to his retirement last year, the top commander for U.S. forces in Africa, General Stephen Townsend, was among the most vocal Pentagon officials on the perceived threat posed by China to U.S. ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Overseas Development Finance Totaled $10.5 Billion in 2020-21, Lowest in Recent Years

China’s Overseas Development Finance by Year, 2008-2021. Source: Boston University Global Development Policy Center, 2023.
By Rebecca Ray After providing a staggering amount of finance for overseas development projects in the wake of the global financial crisis, Chinese overseas development finance has been on a general downward trend for several ...
by BU Global Development Policy Ctr.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Blames China for Delays in Zambia Debt Restructuring

United States Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen (center) is welcomed by Zambian president Hakainde Hichilema (right) during her visit to Zambia at the State House in Lusaka on January 23, 2023. SALIM DAWOOD / AFP
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen accused China of blocking progress for Zambia’s drawn-out debt restructuring process that is now entering its second year. “I know the Chinese have been a barrier to concluding the ...
by Cobus van Staden

Lavrov Visit and Upcoming Joint Naval Exercises With China Spark Anger in South Africa

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor speak at a joint press conference in Pretoria on January 23, 2023. PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP
The South African government is coming under intense criticism for welcoming Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and for next month’s joint naval exercises with both Russia and China. SA Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor dismissed ...
by Cobus van Staden

Uganda to Become Africa’s Newest Oil Exporting Country With Inauguration of New Chinese-operated Drilling in Lake Albert

The Kingfisher oil field in Lake Albert will be officially commissioned on Friday by President Yoweri Museveni.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s long-held ambition to export oil via the controversial East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will move closer to reality on Tuesday when he commissions the country’s first new drilling ...
by Cobus van Staden

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The Pain of Un-Polarity

“THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!”
This post by U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week may end up leaving a more lasting mark than the actual summit he attended.

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Buhari Commissions Port of Lekki, One of China’s Most Consequential Infrastructure Projects in Africa

Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari cutting the ribbon to open the new $1.5 billion Chinese-built Lekki Port in Lagos, West Africa's largest deep water port.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari officially opened West Africa’s largest port facility on Tuesday when he commissioned the new Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos State. The opening coincided with the docking of the ...
by Cobus van Staden

No Blackface in This Year’s Spring Gala TV Show, Actual Africans Performed Instead

Tanzanian singer Corona Kila performed in this year's CCTV Spring Gala TV program that's watched by hundreds of millions on the eve of Lunar New Year in China.
The producers of this year’s Spring Gala television variety show in China appear to have learned from recent scandals around Chinese actors in blackface appearing in the hugely popular annual Lunar New Year ...
by Cobus van Staden

WEEK IN REVIEW: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on an 11-Day, Three-Nation Tour of Africa

Onye Nkuzi is the nom de plume for a widely-followed Nigerian political commentator.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will leave Tuesday on an 11-day, three-nation tour of Africa that Biden administration officials say is intended to rejuvenate ties on the continent and counter Chinese influence. Yellen will visit ...
by Eric Olander

Dalai Lama Invite Complicates China-Sri Lanka Cooperation

Sri Lanka’s desperate attempts to get China’s support for its debt restructuring could be blown up from the inside. This follows an invitation from senior Buddhist clerics to the Dalai Lama to visit the ...
by Cobus van Staden

Is the DRC Making Progress in Reshaping Its Controversial Chinese Deals? Maybe.

Aerial view of the Chinese joint venture Sicomines copper and cobalt mining facility in Kowlezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Image via Sicomines.
The Democratic Republic of Congo could be closer to overhauling two controversial Chinese deals. Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi told Reuters the government is in active talks with Sicomines, a joint venture between the DRC’s ...
by Christian Geraud Neema Byamungu

Chinese Expert: Global North’s Sudden Concern about Global South Reflects Power Shift

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Xiang Haoyu: Why do Western powers suddenly care about the "Global South"?
As China’s decades-long focus on South-South cooperation results in strong relationships throughout the developing world, Global North powers like the United States and Japan are suddenly discovering their concern for the Global South ...
by Cobus van Staden

The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka Goes on a Furious Twitter Rant to Rebut U.S. Ambassador’s “Spoiler” Accusations

The Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka did not take well to U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung’s accusation that China is a potential “spoiler” in the South Asian country’s debt restructuring process. The embassy was ...
by Eric Olander

It Won’t Come as a Surprise That Indians Are Skeptical of China, But New Poll Reveals Lots of Ambivalence About the U.S. Too

There’s an emerging consensus in U.S. national security circles that bolstering ties with India will be the best way to confront China’s surging influence in the Asia-Pacific region. But if that is the ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Ties With India Will be Competitive and Confrontational Says Leading India Scholar

Sino-India analyst Liu Zongyi, a senior fellow at the Shanghai Institutes of International Studies, speaking at an online event organized by Renmin University. Image via Remin University.
One of China’s leading India scholars, Liu Zongyi, a senior fellow at the prestigious Shanghai Institute for International Studies (SIIS), outlined a grim vision for the future of Sino-Indian relations, warning that they’ll ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Social Media’s Unusual Response to the Indonesian Labor Riots

Chinese censors took down all posts about the Indonesian worker revolt at a Chinese-owned nickel processing plant last week from reputable news outlets but permitted individuals like this user to share content about the riots.
Production is up and running again at a Chinese-owned nickel smelting plant in Indonesia following last week’s violent uprising by laborers over poor working conditions. Two people, one Chinese and one Indonesian, were ...
by Eric Olander

South African Rail Company Puts Out Tender to Fix Faulty Chinese-Made Trains

South Africa’s state railway company Transnet has put out a tender for any company that can fix non-operational Chinese-made locomotives acquired under a corrupt deal. The original manufacturer of the locomotives, China Railway Rolling ...
by Cobus van Staden

U.S. Treasury Secretary’s Africa Tour Takes on China, Debt

Onye Nkuzi is the nom de plume for a widely-followed Nigerian political commentator.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is heading to Africa for a 10-day trip to Senegal, South Africa and Zambia. The continent’s green transition will feature prominently, with Yellen visiting South African coal country to ...
by Cobus van Staden

U.S., Europe Backseat Drivers in Africa: Expert

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: "He Wenping: Europe and the United States approached China to discuss trilateral cooperation in Africa, but we had one condition"
He Wenping, the Program Director at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of West-Asian and African Studies and one of China’s most prominent Africa experts, laid into U.S. and European efforts in ...
by Cobus van Staden

Update on Riot at Chinese-owned Factory in Indonesia

Video that purports to show dormitories at the China's Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry smelting facility set ablaze by Indonesian laborers protesting against poor working conditions.
New video footage is emerging of the riot at a Chinese-owned nickel smelter in Indonesia that killed two people over the weekend. Hundreds of security personnel were deployed to quell the protests by Indonesian ...
by Cobus van Staden

Decoding China’s Record-Breaking 2022 Trade With Africa

Mark RALSTON / AFP
China’s trade with countries in Africa broke a new record in 2022 at $282 billion, up 11% from last year’s $254 billion in two-way trade.  The data reaffirms China’s position as the continent’s ...
by Eric Olander
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