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

Chinese State Media Strident on Summit

Editorial cartoon published by the Chinese Communist Party-run nationalist tabloid Global Times. Image via Global Times.
While the Chinese public seems disinterested in the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit, China’s state media is rolling out the invective.  The state-owned nationalist tabloid Global Times published two highly negative articles dismissing the summit. 
by Cobus van Staden

African Media Largely Indifferent to Summit

The Wednesday edition of Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper, like most publications across Africa, did not include a single mention of the summit on its front page.
The U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit has drawn very little media attention in Africa. The coverage that appeared was rehashed copy from international news agencies. Very few publications focused on how the outcomes will affect ...
by Cobus van Staden

Oh, the Talking Points: Why It’s Sometimes Better When U.S. Officials Leave China Out of the Africa Conversation…

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin participate in a Peace, Security and Governance Forum during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C., on December 13, 2022. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP
At the outset of the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit, one message was clear: African countries hate being made to ‘choose sides’ between the U.S. and China. So, U.S. officials were determined to avoid the ...
by Cobus van Staden

That Viral Clip of Indian and Chinese Border Fighting Isn’t What It Seems

India Today television host Shiv Aroor debunks a viral video purportedly depicting last week's clash between Chinese and Indian troops that's been circulating widely on social media and in the news. Image via India Today.
A video clip purporting to show last week’s border clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers is going viral online. However, the news program India Today showed that the footage was actually shot ...
by Cobus van Staden

What Actually Happened in the China-India Border Fight Last Week?

Ananth Krishnan is the Beijing-based correspondent for The Hindu newspaper.
Last week’s violent border skirmish between Chinese and Indian soldiers sent the already frosty relationship into the deep freeze. However, much still remains unknown about the incident and its wider implications. 
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Social Media Largely Ignores U.S.-Africa Summit

Anti-U.S. comments by Chinese netizens on the United States embassy's Weibo page in response to a post about the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit underway in Washington.
While the state media reaction in China to the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit has been predictably negative, Chinese social media has largely ignored the event completely.  China Global South Project China editor Han Zhen ...
by Cobus van Staden

Critical Report from African Think Tank Name-Checked in Beijing’s Response to Summit

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin speaking during the regular press briefing in Beijing on November 12, 2022. Image via the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
While the Biden administration is trying to steer discussions of its Africa summit away from its geopolitical competition with China, the opposite is true in Beijing. At a press briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Press: The U.S.-Africa Summit is All About China

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: What is the intention of the Biden administration's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit?
The Chinese press and think tank coverage of the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit is echoing the geopolitics-focused response from the Foreign Ministry. China’s state-owned nationalist tabloid Global Times set the tone by arguing that ...
by Cobus van Staden

Prominent Africa Scholar Shapes Beijing’s Summit Talking Points

He Wenping is one of China's most prominent Africa scholars and Research Program Director at the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Chinese experts play a key role in shaping Beijing’s messaging on the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit. Key among them is He Wenping, a researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at ...
by Cobus van Staden

U.S. Signs MoU with DRC, Zambia for e-Vehicle Supply Chains

US Secretary Antony Blinken (C), Democratic Republic of the Congo Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula (L) and Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo sign a memorandum of understanding on the sidelines of the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, DC, on December 13, 2022. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP
The governments of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States to develop an electric vehicle supply chain in their countries. The exact details of the agreement ...
by Cobus van Staden

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

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, ...

“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

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
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