Live Feed

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

Solomon Islands Assure Australia on Chinese Base, Leaves Some Wiggle Room

File image of China's ambassador to the Solomon Islands Li Ming and Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare cutting a ribbon during the opening ceremony of a China-funded national stadium complex in Honiara. Mavis PODOKOLO / AFP
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare of the Solomon Islands assured Australia’s visiting Foreign Minister Penny Wong that China won’t be allowed to build a permanent military base there.  Wong told journalists: “I welcomed Prime Minister Sogavare’s ...
by Cobus van Staden

The New U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Speaks Chinese

U.S. Ambassador Virginia E. Palmer (r) presenting her credentials to Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo, image via the U.S. Embassy in Ghana.
Washington’s new envoy to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, comes to the job with an unusual background for a U.S. diplomat in Africa — she speaks Chinese!  Palmer, according to the U.S. embassy in Accra’s official ...
by Cobus van Staden

WEEK IN REVIEW: The First Meeting of the Zambia Creditor Committee to Convene in Paris this Week

The first meeting of the Zambia Creditor Committee, co-chaired by China and France, will convene on Thursday in Paris. IMF officials indicated on Wednesday that if everything proceeds smoothly with restructuring the country’s $17.3 ...
by Eric Olander

China, Western Countries Face Off (Again) Over Xinjiang at UN Human Rights Council

China will be the subject of a Universal Public Review on Tuesday at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
Human rights in China’s western Xinjiang region was once again at the center of a bitter diplomatic feud that erupted on Wednesday at the opening session of the United Nations Human Rights Council ...
by Eric Olander

Qatar Reverses Decision to List Taiwan as a Province of China

Qatar's Hayaa Card app had originally listed visitors from Taiwan as being from China, but organizers later reversed that decision.
World Cup organizers in Qatar appear to have reversed a decision to list ticket holders from Taiwan as being from China. Earlier this week, the Foreign Ministry in Taipei said it was “unacceptable” that its residents ...
by Eric Olander

New Law Governing Chinese “Non-War” Military Operations Implemented

File image of People's Liberation Army soldiers at a training facility in Cambodia's Kampot province on March 15, 2020. Image via Xinhua.
A draft law regulating the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s “Military Operations Other than War” (MOOTW) took effect on Wednesday. The regulation covers activities like disaster relief, humanitarian aid, escort operations, and peacekeeping.  Signed by President ...
by Cobus van Staden

BBC Documentary Sparks More Reflective, Less Racist Discussion on Chinese Social Media

It took a few days, but the BBC Africa documentary “Racism for Sale,” which showcased the trend of Chinese merchants selling offensive videos online that exploit Africans, finally made it over the Great ...
by Eric Olander

TRANSLATION: Please Stop Now! Stop Exploiting African Children!!!

TITLE TRANSLATION: Please stop now! Stop exploiting African kids!!!
“Africa Bob” (波布非洲) is a popular Chinese commentator and content creator about African issues on WeChat. The following is a summary translation of his post that reflects on the controversy about the exploitation ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Top Diplomat for Africa Vows to Crack Down on Offensive Videos After Meeting With Malawi FM

Wu Peng, director-general for African Affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry met with Malawian Foreign Minister Nancy Tembo in Lilongwe on Tuesday. Image via @WuPeng_MFAChina.
China’s top diplomat for Sub-Saharan Africa, Wu Peng, arrived in Lilongwe on Tuesday and tried to quell surging anger in the country over revelations in a new BBC documentary that showed how Chinese nationals in ...
by Eric Olander

Insider Explains Why Exploitative Videos Exposed by BBC Will Continue to Flourish Unless Chinese Government Bans Them

Alexandria Williams is a U.S. journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Just as the algorithms on U.S. digital media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are all optimized to display the most outrageous, inflammatory content in pursuit of higher engagement, the same is true ...
by Eric Olander

Debt Warnings Are Flashing in Laos

File image of the $6 billion Chinese-financed China-Laos railway that is a focal point in the Southeast Asian country's burgeoning debt crisis. Image via Xinhua.
How China acts in the Zambian debt restructuring process will no doubt be closely watched in Laos. This is because of rising fears that the Southeast Asian country could be the next to fall into ...
by Cobus van Staden

U.S. Special Envoy Visits Marshall Islands Amid Concern About China

File image of Joseph Yun, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Compact Negotiations among South Pacific countries. TORU YAMANAKA / POOL / AFP
Joseph Yun, the Biden administration’s special envoy to the Pacific Island States, is in the region for a visit to the Marshall Islands. The visit, from 14 to 16 June, will focus on ...
by Cobus van Staden

Malawi Foreign Minister: “We Are Disgusted, Disrespected and Deeply Pained”

Foreign Minister Nancy Tembo spoke to the press on Monday to share her response to the BBC Africa investigation into exploitative Chinese videos produced in Malawi.
Following a BBC Africa investigation, Malawian ministers condemned the practice of using young children to produce highly exploitative videos that are then sold on Chinese social media platforms. “We are feeling disgusted, disrespected, ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Embassy in Malawi Responds to Video Controversy With Disingenuous Statement

The Chinese embassy in Malawi’s response to the escalating controversy over the exploitative videos uncovered in a new BBC Africa documentary did little to appease critics. The brief statement, published only on its official Twitter ...
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 ...

Chinese Social Media is Oddly Quiet About the Racism Accusations Uncovered in the BBC Documentary

TRANSLATION: "The news that Malawi children were used by Chinese to make these kind of videos was exposed by BBC... ​"
Over the weekend, in the run-up to Monday’s broadcast of the BBC documentary, some of the staff at the network were bracing for what they expected would be a forceful response from China’s ...
by Eric Olander

BBC Doc Becomes New Weapon For China’s Critics in the U.S.

Marco Rubio is a conservative U.S. senator from Florida.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, one of China’s fiercest critics in Washington, D.C., leveraged the revelations uncovered in the BBC documentary to launch a broadside against the Chinese Communist Party. It’s important to note that ...
by Eric Olander

China, Saudi Arabia Meet to Discuss Expanding Military Ties

TWEET TRANSLATION: His Excellency the Assistant Minister of Defense for Executive Affairs, Dr. Khalid bin Hussein Al-Bayari meets with the Chinese Minister of Defense, Lieutenant-General Wei Fenghe to discuss defense and military cooperation relations.
Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe met with top defense officials from Saudi Arabia over the weekend to discuss closer security and military relations between the two countries. The timing of Saturday’s meeting is ...
by Eric Olander

What is China’s Real Role in Sri Lanka’s Debt Crisis?

File image of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaking with Sri Lanka's former Prime Minister Malinda Rajapakse in Colombo on January 9, 2022. Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP
Few debt crises have triggered as much disinformation as Sri Lanka’s. The country is currently grappling with a complex debt restructuring process amid its worst economic crisis since independence. The role of Chinese debt has drawn much ...
by Cobus van Staden

Possible U.S.-China Cooperation in Sri Lanka?

U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung meeting with her Chinese counterpart Qi Zhenhong in Colombo. Image via @USAmbSL Twitter.
Sri Lanka is currently scrambling for support amid its worst economic crisis since independence. But the crisis could provide a rare opportunity for cooperation between China and the United States. Qi Zhenhong, China’s ambassador to the South ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s Top Diplomats for MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa Are Both Touring the Continent

The Director-General for West Asia and North Africa, Wang Di (top), meeting with Algerian officials on Sunday and his counterpart for Sub-Saharan Africa, Wu Peng (bottom) in South Africa.
A flurry of high-level Chinese diplomacy is underway in Africa in the run-up to next week’s Horn of Africa conference that Beijing is co-hosting with the Ethiopian government. On Sunday, Wang Di, China’s ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Special Envoy For the Horn of Africa Makes Final Preparations Ahead of Next Week’s Peace Conference

Chinese Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, meeting with Beijing-based diplomats from HoA countries. Image via @WuPeng_MFAChina.
China’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa met last week with diplomatic representatives from the eight Horn of Africa countries to go over details ahead of next Monday’s first-ever Chinese-sponsored HoA peace conference that it’s co-hosting ...
by Eric Olander

China Rates More Positively Among Young Africans than U.S.: Survey

A survey conducted by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation of 4,507 young Africans across 15 countries named China as the foreign country with the biggest influence on the continent.
A new survey shows that more young Africans see China as a positive influence in their lives than the United States. 76% of respondents rated China as a foreign power with a beneficial impact ...
by Cobus van Staden

Transsion’s Nearly Two-Year Run of Uninterrupted Growth in Africa Comes to an End

Source: Counterpoint Market Pulse Service
Two years of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions and slowing economies in Africa finally caught up with Shenzhen-based African mobile phone giant Transsion. The company released its first-quarter results earlier this month that ...
by Eric Olander

Mobile Phone Giant Tecno Wants a Piece of Kenya’s Booming Mobile Money Market

File image of Tecno representative at one of the Transsion unit's stores in Nairobi. Image via Xinhua.
Transsion’s Tecno brand is expanding its new mobile money service to Kenya this week. “The wallet has pilot launched in Nigeria in May, and roll-out to Kenya in middle of June,” the company said ...
by Eric Olander

BBC Doc Tracks Origin of Racist “Shout-Out” Videos Featuring African Children

The BBC debuted a documentary investigating the origin of commissioned videos of African children being coached to recite messages in Chinese that have gone viral in China. These are frequently starkly racist and reveal the prevalence ...
by Cobus van Staden

WEEK IN REVIEW: China, For the First Time, Will Convene A Horn of Africa (HoA) Conference

File image of Xue Bing, China's Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China, for the first time, will convene a Horn of Africa (HoA) conference between June 20th and 22nd in Addis Ababa.  China’s new Special Envoy for HoA, Xue Bing, announced during a tour in ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Media Uses Oft-Used Tactic to Dismiss U.S. Concerns Over PLA Port in Cambodia

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Cambodia refutes U.S. media's "China to build a military base in Cambodia" as hype: baseless accusation!
The Chinese media reaction to the Washington Post report about the PLAN’s purported desire to build a navy base in Cambodia closely adhered to an often-used template used to challenge unfavorable stories: Discredit ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Rivals Consider Implications of Possible New PLAN Base in Cambodia

China’s reported desire to build a navy facility in Cambodia is prompting careful scrutiny from analysts in rival nations, notably the United States and Taiwan.  Ryan Ho Kilpatrick, a reporter at the Taiwan-government-funded ...
by Eric Olander

PLAN Base Story in Cambodia Fits Nicely With China Threat Narrative in U.S.

Bill Hagerty is a conservative Republican Senator from Tennessee.
The Washington Post story is playing nicely in the United States, where suspicions about China’s military ambitions are already quite pronounced.  It’s notable, however, that Senator Hagerty would consider the small base that ...
by Eric Olander

Wang Yi Wraps Up Central Asia Tour With Promises of Closer Economic and Security Ties

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi poses for a photo with his counterparts from five Central Asian nations during the C+C5 meeting in Kazakhstan. Image via Xinhua.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is heading home after a four-day trip to Kazakhstan this week, where he sought to bolster trade and security ties with five Central Asian countries. The group, known ...
by Eric Olander
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