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

Biden’s Africa Talk is “Hollow”: Expert

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit on December 13, 2022. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP
While many U.S. government spokespeople are putting a happy face on the summit, independent analysts are being less diplomatic.  Amaka Anku, the head of Africa analysis at the Eurasia Group, didn’t mince words ...
by Cobus van Staden

Global Coverage Zeroes In On Weak U.S.-Africa Engagement

Washington, D.C.-based freelance journalist Kate Fisher reporting for Singapore's Channel News Asia.
Global coverage of the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit pointed out how little energy has been invested in the relationship in contrast to China’s ongoing diplomatic outreach. Kate Fisher, a correspondent for Singapore’s Channel New ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s Party-run Media, Scholars Dismiss U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Washington Invites 49 African Leaders to US-Africa Summit This Week, Against China?
While U.S. officials have sought to downplay competition with China in Africa ahead of this week’s leaders summit in Washington, D.C., Chinese scholars and Communist Party-run media, on the other hand, are eager ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Was a Key Theme at High Profile Africa Conference in Washington

Gyude Moore (left), senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, speaks with Yunnan Chen (center) from the Overseas Development Institute in London and Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies during the Semafor Africa conference in Washington, D.C. on November 12, 2022. Image via Semafor.
China may not be a prominent topic of discussion at this week’s U.S.-Africa summit but it was on Monday at a high-profile conference that featured a number of senior U.S. and Chinese officials. ...
by Cobus van Staden

“China-Africa Relations Are the Bedrock of China’s Foreign Policy,” Says Beijing Envoy

Qin Gang, Chinese ambassador to the United States, speaking at the Semafor Africa conference in Washington, D.C. on November 12, 2022. Image via Semafor.
China’s ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, was among the keynote speakers at Monday’s Semafor Africa Summit in Washington, D.C.  Although Qin has never been posted to Africa and doesn’t have any ...
by Cobus van Staden

U.S. Playing “Catch Up” to China in Africa, Says Senior Commerce Department Official

Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves speaking at the Semafor Africa Summit on November 12, 2022. Image via Semafor.
U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves said the quiet part out loud on Monday at the Semafor Africa Summit in Washington, D.C., when he acknowledged that American stakeholders had fallen far behind China ...
by Cobus van Staden

Poll: African Publics Rate U.S. Leadership Higher Than China’s But Not By Much

Source: Gallup
For the most part, African publics in 27 countries across the continent have similar views of U.S. and Chinese global leadership, according to data from the international polling agency Gallup. U.S. favorability is ahead ...
by Cobus van Staden

Congolese Cobalt May Become a Casualty of the New U.S. Climate Law

File image of cobalt processing facility in the DR Congo city of Lumbubashi. SAMIR TOUNSI / AFP
It appears that the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries that produce strategic resources used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries may be sidelined by the new U.S. climate law known as ...
by Cobus van Staden

Xi-Mohamud Handshake Proves Opposing China on Xinjiang Isn’t a Diplomatic Death Sentence for Small Countries

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud shaking hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the China-Arab Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 9, 2022. Image via the Chinese Embassy in Somalia.
Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was one of at least a dozen heads of state to do a brief meet-and-greet with Xi Jinping during the China-Arab summit in Saudi Arabia on ...
by Eric Olander

Contrasting U.S. and Chinese Diplomatic Styles on Full Display This Week

It’s rare for the U.S. and China to host major regional summits less than a week apart. But with the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit set to get underway in Washington, D.C., just a few ...
by Eric Olander

Media Frustrates White House Efforts to Avoid Making This Week’s Africa Summit About China

A US Military Honor Guard approaches Namibian President Hage Gottfried Geingob's plane as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on December 11, 2022, to attend the US-Africa Leaders' Summit. The summit will take place in Washington, DC, December 13-15. OLIVER CONTRERAS / AFP
Senior African policy officials in the White House and State Department have been adamant that this week’s African leaders summit is about Africa… not China. But the international news media doesn’t appear to ...
by Eric Olander

Asia, Not Africa Most Likely Region For China to Set Up New Overseas Military Base, Says Rand Report

Assessed desirability and feasibility of potential PLA basing and access locations. Source: Reproduced from Garafola et al., 2022. Countries are listed in alphabetical order based on their location within the respective U.S. combatant commands’ areas of responsibility.
Four countries in Asia have been identified by researchers in the United States as the most likely places where China will set up a new military outpost. The findings by ...
by Eric Olander

China Launches New Site Dedicated to Belt and Road News in Africa

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency launched a new online portal that is ostensibly intended to serve as a hub for Belt and Road information in Africa.  The new site appears ...
by Eric Olander

Arab Media Expresses Optimism Towards the China-Arab Summit

Arab media showed optimism toward the China Arab Summit which kicks off Friday in Saudi Arabia. Only a few hours before its kick-off, Arab media says the summit reflects the “strong position” that ...
by Nesrine Kamal

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

2026: Africa-China Relations in a World Shaped by North-South Geopolitics

When talking about Africa–China relations, one is always moving along a sliding scale. There are myriad interactions with Chinese entities that concern only individual African countries, segueing into trends affecting the whole continent and sliding further into global dynamics shaping the developing world, of which Africa is the heart.

The Africa-China relationship is its own thing, but Africa’s fate can’t easily be separated from factors affecting the wider Global South, ...

WEEK IN REVIEW: United States to Increase Its Military Force Presence in Northern Australia

File image of a Jin-class nuclear submarine of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy. (Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/POOL/AFP)
The United States announced it will increase its military force presence in northern Australia in response to “China’s dangerous and coercive actions” in the Asia-Pacific region. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday the ...
by Eric Olander

Xi’s Saudi Trip Could Set the Scene for Long-Term Changes: Expert

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Chairman XI's visit to Saudi Arabia promotes new development of China-Saudi Arabia relations.
While Chinese government spokespeople have called President Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia ‘epoch-making,’ they’ve been a lot vaguer about the agenda for his meetings.  However, Tang Tianbo, a ...
by Cobus van Staden

For the Western Press, Xi’s Saudi Visit is All About the United States

A picture taken on December 7 2022, in Riyadh, shows the Chinese and the Saudi flags adorning a street ahead of Chinese president Xi Jinping's visit to the Saudi capital. Fayez Nureldine / AFP
The China-Middle East expert Jonathan Fulton complained on Twitter this week that many editors at major Western news outlets seem to have pre-decided their framing of Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi ...
by Cobus van Staden

Washington and Beijing have Very Different Takes On Next Week’s U.S.-Africa Summit

Preparations are ramping up for next week’s U.S.-Africa leaders’ summit. 13-15 December will see leaders from 49 countries, as well as numerous businesspeople, civil society envoys, and journalists descending on ...
by Cobus van Staden

Western Calls to De-Risk African Projects Echo China’s Approach

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa (L) is welcomed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the 48th G7 Summit from June 26 to June 28 at Elmau Castle, southern Germany. John MACDOUGALL / AFP
One of the underlying factors driving Chinese business in Africa is the role of state insurers like Sinosure in reducing the risk taken on by Chinese companies.  So it’s interesting to ...
by Cobus van Staden

$30 Billion of China-Saudi Deals to Be Signed During Xi’s Visit to the Kingdom

Chinese and Saudi Arabian officials will sign $29.62 billion worth of commercial deals this week during President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to the Kingdom. In all, some 20 agreements will be inked, according ...
by Eric Olander

China-Saudi Trade is Booming… And Not Just Because of Oil

Source: Bloomberg
The obvious reason for Xi Jinping’s trip to Saudi Arabia is to foster closer ties with one of China’s largest oil suppliers (Russia and Saudi Arabia have been battling for the top spot ...
by Eric Olander

Beware of the Simple Media Narratives Warns China Scholar About Xi Visit to the Mideast

Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Jonathan Fulton has some advice for journalists covering Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia: don’t fall for the simple narrative that this trip is about some kind of Great ...
by Eric Olander

With Xi Jinping Back on the Road, Ryan Hass Reflects on Where Chinese Diplomacy Goes From Here

Now that China is beginning to relax its draconian Zero COVID policies and President Xi Jinping has emerged from three years of diplomatic hibernation, Ryan Hass, a top China scholar at the Brookings ...
by Eric Olander

The China-Arab Summit: Arab Press Highlights the Need for Economic Partnerships and Political Alliances

Arab and regional press widely focused on the China-Arab summit scheduled this week in Saudi Arabia, highlighting its importance as a “turning point in the history of Sino-Arab relations.” Several writers shared their ...
by Nesrine Kamal

Chinese-Built Cross-Frontier Hydro System Inaugurated in Mali

Images of the recent inauguration ceremony of the Gouina Hydroelectric Dam, via Afro-Impact
This weekend saw the inauguration of the Gouina Hydroelectric dam and Malinguina hydropower station in Mali. Funded by the China Exim Bank and built by PowerChina, the facilities form ...
by Cobus van Staden

African Leaders Commemorate Jiang Zemin

African officials signing statements of condolence marking the passing of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, via Twitter
African heads of state, ministers, and other high-ranking officials from countries as far afield as Equatorial Guinea and Burundi visited Chinese embassies and missions ...
by Cobus van Staden

What’s at Play in Xi Jinping’s Upcoming Visit to Saudi Arabia?

File image of Chinese President Xi Jinping, via AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly travel to Saudi Arabia this week for a state meeting and to attend the inaugural China-Arab Summit. This is a particularly important visit as Xi returns to ...
by Cobus van Staden

Why the Persian Gulf is China’s “New Africa”

Source: Janes IntelTrack via Financial Times
Fifteen years ago, Africa supplied a third of China’s imported oil and was a key recipient of foreign investment beyond its near abroad in east Asia. Today, a large portion of that energy ...
by Eric Olander

U.S. Officials Are Working Hard to Keep China Off the Agenda of Next Week’s Africa Leaders Summit

Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy.
The White House is working hard to make sure that China does not become a topic of conversation at next week’s U.S.-Africa leaders summit that will take place in Washington, D.C. “Our goal ...
by Eric Olander

China Playing “Aggressive Game” in Africa and the World, Says U.S. Trade Rep Katherine Tai

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai spoke with Rama Yade of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center about China's trading practices in Africa. Image via The Atlantic Council.
The top U.S. trade official, Katherine Tai, acknowledged that Washington is increasingly facing difficulties in Africa and other regions because China, not the U.S., is most countries’ largest trading partner.
by Eric Olander
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