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

U.S. and Chinese Special Envoy Visits Raise Great Power Questions in Horn of Africa 

China's Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing (left) with Ugandan Foreign Minister Oryem Okello and Ambassador Zhang Lizhong.
Xue Bing, China’s Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, is winding down his visit to the region with a two-day stop in Uganda, after visiting Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya. His last ...
by Cobus van Staden

Russia Shores Up BRICS Support on Ukraine

Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (second from the left) hosts ambassadors from China, South Africa, Brazil and India. Image via the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (photo, second from left) met with ambassadors of the BRICS countries earlier this week to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. The meeting formed part of Moscow’s campaign to characterize the ...
by Cobus van Staden

Four Different Chinese Ambassadors are Moving On

An unusually large number of Chinese ambassadors announced this week they will be leaving their posts in at least four African countries. It’s just a coincidence that so many are happening at once ...
by Eric Olander

The Increasing Closeness Between China and Somalia Raises Questions for U.S.

Somali Foreign Minister Abisaid Muse Ali meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi opn the sidelines of the OIC in Pakistan. Image via @MinisterMOFA.
Somalia is emerging as a focus for China, following a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Somali counterpart Abisaid Muse Ali on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting ...
by Eric Olander

If You Want to Read Bad Things About China’s Engagement in Africa, You’ll Enjoy the Hoover Institution’s New Handbook

The conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University spent several months working with thirty civil society organizations from 24 African countries to produce a new handbook that is purportedly intended to help policymakers better ...
by Eric Olander

Leading Scholar Argues the Middle East is Pivoting to Regional Cooperation and China

TITLE TRANSLATION: A Tide of Reconciliation Opens New Possibilities for Middle East Dipomacy
The retreat of the United States is causing a ‘wave of reconciliation’ in the Middle East and reorienting these countries towards China. So says Ding Long, a prominent professor at the Middle East Institute at ...
by Cobus van Staden

Wang Yi Meets With African and Mideast FMs on Sidelines of OIC Gathering

Somali Foreign Minister Abisaid Muse Ali meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi opn the sidelines of the OIC in Pakistan. Image via @MinisterMOFA.
Wang Yi used the opportunity of his visit to the OIC meeting in Pakistan for side-line talks with counterparts from prominent members of the organization of Islamic states, including Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Egypt, ...
by Cobus van Staden

Somaliland President Taps into Washington’s China Issues

Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi speaking at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
President Muse Bihi Abdi, the leader of the separatist region of Somaliland, wound up his visit to Washington, D.C. with significantly more U.S. support for independence. Somaliland is officially a province of Somalia, ...
by Eric Olander

No, China Did Not “Provide Weapons to Farmajo Regime in Somalia”

Washington’s former top diplomat for Africa, Tibor Nagy, posted a highly misleading tweet on Tuesday that accused China of “hypocrisy” over remarks made by Chinese Special Envoy Xue Bing, who 
by Eric Olander

China’s Ambassador to Somalia Makes Clear That When It Comes to Taiwan, There’s No Room For Compromise

Occasionally, China’s famously media-shy ambassadors in Africa come out of their shells and engage in surprisingly frank discussions on social media. Admittedly, it doesn’t happen very often but it did on Monday over ...
by Eric Olander

Excitement, Rumors in Nairobi about New China-built Expressway

The growing excitement in the Kenyan capital about the upcoming inauguration of its new Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway is also spawning a flurry of viral rumors. On Tuesday, The Standard newspaper published a fact-check ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s Emerging “African Pawn” Position on Ukraine

TITLE TRANSLATION: The Associated Press analyzes "Why doesn't Africa condemn Russia," African netizens reply: are you okay?
The reluctance by about half of African countries to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is now being leveraged by media outlets closely aligned with the government and the Party as a way to ...
by Cobus van Staden

One of China’s Elder Statesmen of African Diplomacy Makes the Case For Why the Continent Must Remain a Strategic Priority

Retired Chinese diplomat Kuang Weilin giving a speech at the Shanghai Institute for International Strategic Studies. Image via SIISS.
China’s growing relationship with Africa is crucial for attaining its wider global goals, according to veteran diplomat Kuang Weilin, China’s first ambassador to the African Union, and a highly-regarded commentator on African affairs ...
by Cobus van Staden

Kenya’s Struggles to Repay China Exim Bank Loan Hint at Wider Troubles

Kenya is struggling to make payments on a $156.7 million Chinese Exim Bank loan that financed Nairobi’s Southern Bypass road. The country’s auditor general, Nancy Gathungu says Kenya now owes the Chinese state bank ...
by Cobus van Staden

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 ...

More than a Quarter of All Debt Servicing Payments by Poor Countries will Go to China this Year

Source: World Bank's International Debt Statistics database (last updated 10/10/2021). Note: the char show public and publicly guaranteed debt of DSSI eligible countries.
The world’s poorest countries will pay about $52.8 billion in debt servicing costs this year, of which 26% ($13.7 billion) will go to Chinese lenders, according to a new report released on Monday by ...
by Cobus van Staden

Nigeria’s Debt is Growing, but China’s Share is Shrinking: Debt Management Office

File image of Patience Oniha, head of Nigeria's Debt Management Office.
Nigeria’s total public debt stood at $94.7 billion in 2021, up from $78.9 billion the previous year. Patience Oniha, the head of the country’s Debt Management Office (DMO) briefed journalists last Thursday in Abuja. ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Infrastructure Loans to Africa Are Not Aid – But What Are They?

Professor Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University.
As concern grows as to how countries like Kenya will repay their loans to China, navigating misinformation about Chinese lending remains challenging. Johns Hopkins University Professor Deborah Brautigam, one of the world’s leading ...
by Cobus van Staden

Foreign Ministry Briefing Sums Up China’s Emerging Position on Ukraine, Africa

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin. Image via China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s flurry of meetings with African stakeholders over the weekend was the top item of discussion at Monday’s regular Foreign Ministry press briefing in Beijing. While ...
by Cobus van Staden

Right Now There Are Two Chinese Special Envoys on the Move in Africa

TWEET TRANSLATION: Chinese envoy for Middle East affairs arrives in [Sudan]
Two Chinese Special Envoys are currently touring Africa. Zhai Jun, China’s Special Envoy to the Middle East arrived in Sudan late Monday night, his second visit there in a month. ...
by Cobus van Staden

“Good Things” From Africa Featured at Hangzhou Trade Fair

Students at Zhejiang Merchants University kicking off the new African Goods Exhibit in Zhejiang. Image via China-Africa Bridge.
Products from 17 African countries are being featured at a trade show in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in a bid to introduce the continent’s specialties like wine, coffee, and tea, to Chinese ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Went on a Three Day African Diplomatic Blitz to Rally Support For Its Stance on Ukraine

Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi met with his Zambian counterpart, Stanley Kasongo Kakubo in eastern Anhui province near Shanghai. Image via Xinhua.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up a three-day flurry of meetings on Sunday with counterparts from four African countries. Although each of the meetings, according to readouts, addressed ...
by Eric Olander

Xi-Ramaphosa Call Appears to Reveal that South Africa Has, in Fact, Taken a Side in the Ukraine War

South Africa’s zig-zagging response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appears to be straightening out with President Cyril Ramaphosa increasingly aligned with China’s stance on the issue. After initially condemning Moscow’s incursion, South Africa’s ...
by Eric Olander

China’s New Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Winds Down Tour With a Pointed Message:  “Countries are Fed Up With the West”

Chinese Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, at a press conference in Nairobi. Image via the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi.
China’s newly-appointed Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa (HoA), Xue Bing (photo), concluded the first portion of a week-long tour on Saturday with a stinging rebuke of U.S. and European-led diplomacy in ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Mideast Special Envoy Meets With Arab League Secretary-General

TWEET TRANSLATION: On March 20th, the Chinese government's Special Envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, met with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in Cairo.
While China’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, is on a tour of regional capitals, Beijing’s other Special Envoy, Zhai Jun, is doing the same in the Middle East.
by Eric Olander

Chinese Commerce Ministry Official Dismisses WSJ Report that China Will Buy Saudi Oil Using RMB

A well-known Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) official in Beijing, Cheng Wang, dismissed the Wall Street Journal report that Saudi Arabia is considering the option of allowing China ...
by Eric Olander

U.S. Generals Emphasize China in House Hearings on Africa and Middle East Defense

AFRICOM Commander General Stephen Townsend testifying before the House Armed Services Committee. Image via @HouseForeign.
China played a central role in testimony from senior generals on U.S. defense postures in Africa and the Middle East late last week. General Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central ...
by Eric Olander

China Emerges as Key Issue in Somaliland President’s Visit to Washington, D.C.

Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi meeting with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington. Image via @HouseForeign
The President of Somaliland, Muse Bihi Abdi, spent last week on Capitol Hill and speaking at Washington, D.C.’s conservative think tanks to make the case for the U.S. to extend diplomatic ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Special Envoy Visits Djibouti as Part of Horn Tour

China's Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa meeting with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh. Image via the Djibouti News Agency.
Xue Bing, China’s recently-appointed Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, continued his tour of the region with a visit to Djibouti. He held separate meetings with President Ismail Omar ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Embassy in DR Congo Introduces New Measures to Protect Its People From Rising Crime and Insecurity

Worsening security conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo is prompting the Chinese embassy in Kinshasa to ask all Chinese nationals in the country to add their contact details to a new WeChat registration ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe Hits Back at Press Criticism of Chinese Firms

The Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe renewed its critique of local and Western media’s ‘slander’ against Chinese companies in the country in a lengthy post published Wednesday on its website. Under the headline 
by Cobus van Staden
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