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

Chinese Smartphone Giant Oppo Readies For Brazil Debut

Jade GAO / AFP
Chinese smartphone giant Oppo, the world’s fourth largest, is in final preparation before launching in South America’s largest consumer market. Oppo will debut its Reno 7 model next Monday as ...
by Eric Olander

Kenya’s New President Steps Into Debt Dilemma

Exterior of Kenya's National Treasury building in Nairobi. Simon Mania/AFP
Kenya’s new President William Ruto faces a steep debt mountain as he enters office. Servicing the country’s debts consumed 63.5% of tax revenues in the first two months of the current financial, a rate that’s ...
by Cobus van Staden

Ruto Decisions Raise Questions About SGR’s Financial Future

President William Ruto is moving to resurrect this previously-shelved Nairobi-to-Mombasa road project that would run parallel to the SGR.
Repaying Kenya’s $3.7 billion loan to China for the Standard Gauge Railway is key to Kenya’s broader financial future. However, two decisions by the country’s new President, William Ruto, will make that much harder, ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Communist Party Convenes African Diplomats

A meeting between African envoys and senior CPC officials in Beijing on September 16, 2022, image via Direct to Africa
Senior officials from the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened a meeting of African diplomats in Beijing on Saturday, highlighting the role of the Party in Chinese diplomacy to Africa. Headed by Liu ...
by Cobus van Staden

China and Nicaragua Discuss Trade, Party Ties 

Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings. Image via Xinhua.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Denis Moncada, his Nicaraguan counterpart, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Monday. The two countries resumed diplomatic relations last year after Managua recognized ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Embassy in Nigeria Issues Urgent Security Warning: Kidnappers “Stalking” Chinese Nationals

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Emergency safety reminder for GURARA region of Niger State bordering Abuja
The Chinese embassy in Nigeria issued an alarming warning this weekend to some of its nationals in the country, urging them to evacuate immediately so as to avoid abduction. The embassy sent alerts that bandits are ...
by Eric Olander

China Sends High-Level Envoy to President João Lourenço’s Second Inauguration in Angola

China's Special Representative on African Affairs, Liu Yuxi, attended Angolan President João Lourenço's inauguration and then held bilateral talks afterward. Image via @Ambassador_Liu
China dispatched Liu Yuxi, the newly-named Special Representative on African Affairs and former ambassador to the African Union, to attend last week’s second inauguration ceremony for President João Lourenço. The two then met later for talks. Angola ...
by Eric Olander

Ghanaian Government Steps Up Illegal Mining Crackdown in the Wake of Aisha Huang Arrest

Suspected illegal miners Ghana arrested in a recent military crackdown. Image via the Ghanaian military.
Ghanaian security forces arrested 164 people last week in a new crackdown on the illegal small-scale gold mining known as “galamsey.” Many of those detained are foreigners, mostly from West African countries but none from ...
by Eric Olander

China Thinks Its Measures in Xinjiang Could Help Arab Governments Fight Islamic Extremism

The Chinese Foreign Ministry's top security official, Cheng Guoping, speaking with security analysts in the UAE about anti-terrorism in Xinjiang. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s top security official, Cheng Guoping, met with security analysts in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month to tout Beijing’s “achievements in countering anti-terrorism and de-radicalization in Xinjiang.” Cheng was joined ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: China Quietly Distributed More Than $30 Billion in “Emergency Loans” to Financially-Distressed Developing Countries in Recent Years

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivering his keynote address at FOCAC 8. Image via Xinhua.
China has quietly distributed more than $30 billion in so-called “emergency loans” to financially-distressed developing countries in recent years, according to new data compiled by AidData. Details of the loans have not been publicized ...
by Eric Olander

India Could Be a Wild Card at the SCO Summit

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the unveiling of a statue of India's independence hero Subhas Chandra Bose in New Delhi on September 8, 2022. Money SHARMA / AFP
While a possible Xi-Putin meeting dominates the headlines, another conversation on the SCO sidelines in Samarkand could signal a headache for Western powers. Speculation is mounting that President Xi could also meet with India’s Prime ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Crows As India Bails on IPEF Trade Pillar

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai (C) speaks during a ministerial pillar meeting at the Indo-Pacific Economic Ministerial in Los Angeles, California, on September 8, 2022. Frederic J. BROWN / AFP
India’s prominence at the SCO summit comes at a delicate moment for the United States as India moves to limit its participation in the new U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). Indian officials said it will not ...
by Cobus van Staden

Kenya’s New President Flips on China

Chinese Special Representative for Africa, Liu Yuxi, meeting with newly-elected Kenyan President William Ruto. Image via @WilliamsRuto.
Kenya and China will “expand relations on infrastructure, agriculture, education – among other broad arrays of issues – for the mutual benefit of our countries,” according to Kenya’s new President William Ruto.  Ruto spoke during a ...
by Cobus van Staden

Kenya’s New President Faces Many Challenges, Including Balancing China

Kenya’s new President William Ruto, takes power at a complex time for the East African country. As Kenya’s economy creaks under a large debt burden, he also faces numerous regional challenges, including conflict ...
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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Logistics Shift to Mombasa to Hit SGR Profits 

File image of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway that China financed and built as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Simon Mania/AFP
One of William Ruto’s first actions as Kenyan president was to reverse a decision made by his predecessor to force logistics operators to use the Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway’s inland port in Naivasha ...
by Cobus van Staden

Galamsey Queen Update: Ghana’s President Digs the Hole Deeper

File image of Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo. Issouf SANOGO / AFP
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has poured gasoline on the controversy around the recent re-arrest of En (aka Aisha) Huang, a Chinese national accused of returning to Ghana to engage in illegal gold mining despite being ...
by Cobus van Staden

More Developing Countries Choose to Stay Out of China’s Latest Spat With UN Over Human Rights in Xinjiang

China's ambassador to the UN in Geneva Chen Xu attends the opening day of the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council at the United Nations offices in Geneva on September 12, 2022. FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
China’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Chen Xu, read out a forceful rebuttal on Tuesday to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s latest report that documented human rights violations in Xinjiang. ...
by Eric Olander

Sri Lanka Calls On Same Financial Advisory Firm That Worked With Zambia on Debt Restructuring

Popular protests against the Sri Lankan government's governance record. Photo: AFP
The Sri Lankan government hired the boutique Paris-based financial advisory firm Lazard to negotiate on its behalf with bilateral creditors in China, Japan, and India, among others. If that firm sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the ...
by Eric Olander

First Avocados, Now Coffee Beans… Kenya’s Expanding Agricultural Exports to China

Chinese customs inspectors at the Changsha airport in Hunan province examine raw coffee beans imported from Kenya.
A first batch of 2.04 tons of raw Kenyan coffee beans arrived in the southern Chinese city of Changsha this week, marking the opening of yet another new market for Kenyan agricultural exports ...
by Eric Olander

Kenya’s New President Meets With China’s New Special Representative For Africa

Image via @WilliamsRuto
China’s newly-named Special Representative for African Affairs, Ambassador Liu Yuxi, represented Beijing at this week’s swearing-in ceremony for Kenyan President William Ruto and the two later met for talks. No word on what ...
by Eric Olander

Confirmed: Xi Jinping Will Travel to Central Asia this Week

It’s finally been confirmed: Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first foreign visit since the beginning of the pandemic will be to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan this week. In addition to state visits, he’ll also attend the Shanghai ...
by Cobus van Staden

Deportation Lapses Revealed in Ghana’s Illegal Mining Scandal

En (aka Aisha) Huang, the alleged "queen" of illegal mining during a court appearance in Accra. Image via GhanaWeb.
New revelations about how En (Aisha) Huang, Ghana’s so-called Queen of Galamsey (illegal small-scale gold mining), managed to make her way back to the country despite being deported are adding political heat to an ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Embassy Meets With DRC Ministries About Attacks

An image of the high-level meeting between the Chinese embassy and DRC government officials this week. Image via the Lualaba Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce
The Chinese embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo convened a meeting this weekend with several Congolese government ministries, including the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior, as well as immigration officials and ...
by Cobus van Staden

China-DRC Military Cooperation?

DR Congo Minister of Defense Gilbert Kabanda Kurhenga met with Wang Hailong, the chargé d'affaires at the Chinese embassy in Kinshasa. Image via Congo Today.
The Defense Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo met with high-level officials from the Chinese embassy, including the military attache, to discuss possible Chinese support for the development of the DRC’s ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Car Brands Pulling Ahead in South Africa 

Chinese car brands like Chery and Haval are outselling traditional favorites like Mercedes Benz and Ford in the South African market. Both brands sold more than a thousand cars in July, far beyond ...
by Cobus van Staden

Possible Xi-Putin Summit Comes at a Critical Time in Sino-Russian Ties

Fan Hongda is a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University.
This week’s expected summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin comes at a delicate time for both countries: ?? With Russian forces now in retreat in portions ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese, Indian Military Forces Pull Back Troops From Disputed Border Area Ahead of Possible Xi-Modi Meeting

File image of Indian soldiers standing next to Bofors guns positioned at Penga Teng Tso ahead of Tawang, near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), neighboring China, in India's Arunachal Pradesh state
After months of steadily deteriorating ties between India and China, a partial pullback by military forces from both countries high in the Himalayas is a welcome bit of good news. The ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese-Processed Cobalt (Likely From the DRC) Was to Blame For the U.S. Sales Shutdown of the F-35 Fighter Jet

File image of a Lockheed Martin F-35 U.S. fighter jet. JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP
Sales in the U.S. of the advanced F-35 fighter jet were shut down after it was discovered that a magnet in the plane contained an alloy made with cobalt that ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Business Community in the Philippines Terrorized by Brutal Kidnappings

Image of what is believed to be a Chinese hostage kidnapped in the Philippines where at least 55 other Chinese nationals have recently been abducted. Image via the Philippine Network (菲常网).
The president of the Chinese chamber of commerce in the Philippines is pleading for authorities to do more to protect the local Chinese community following a spate of recent kidnappings. Lujin Ang Shengcheng ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese President Xi Jinping Will Reportedly Travel to Two Central Asian States Later This Month to Mark His Formal Return to International Diplomacy

There's been widespread speculation over which country will be the first to welcome to Chinese President Xi Jinping who has not traveled abroad since the beginning of the pandemic nearly three years ago. Selim CHTAYTI / POOL / AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly travel to two Central Asian states later this month to mark his formal return to international diplomacy. The Foreign Ministry of Kazakhstan said on Monday that President Xi ...
by Eric Olander
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