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

China’s New ‘Global Security Initiative’ Promoted in Africa

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the Global Security Initiative on April 22 at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022. Image via Xinhua.
China is planning a new international security architecture. And while few have any clear idea of what it will entail, it’s already being promoted in Africa.  The “Global Security Initiative” was announced during ...
by Cobus van Staden

Tussle Underway Among China, South Africa, and France to Co-Chair Zambia’s Creditor Committee

Stephen Chan is a prominent Africa-China scholar at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
Sharp elbows are out among countries vying to help lead Zambia’s newly-energized debt restructuring process, following China’s announcement last week that it plans to join a new creditor’s committee. Soon after Chinese officials announced ...
by Eric Olander

Ed Cropley: There’s a Lot More at Stake For China in the Zambian Debt Talks Than Just Getting Repaid

Ed Cropley is a London-based Associate Editor for Reuters and one of the news service's most prominent columnists.
While Zambia’s $5.8 billion of outstanding debts to Chinese creditors is indeed a lot of money, getting fully repaid may not be the primary concern for policymakers in Beijing, said Reuters Breakingviews columnist ...
by Eric Olander

U.S. Internet Freedom Pledge Fails to Get Global South Support

Press release published by the Kenyan government that denied it had agreed to join a U.S.-led partnership for the "Future of the Internet."
Sixty countries signed a U.S.-led “Declaration of the Future of the Internet” late last week that called for greater online “openness and democracy.” But who chose not to join is rapidly becoming the ...
by Cobus van Staden

Japan PM Kishida Tours SE Asia Amid Worsening U.S.-China Tensions

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (L) and Vietnam's Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính speaking at a joint press conference at the Government Office in Hanoi on May 1, 2022. Nhac NGUYEN / AFP
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spent the weekend in Vietnam where he held separate talks with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc during a three-nation tour of Southeast Asian states. The Prime ...
by Eric Olander

What Does China Really Mean When It Says “African Solutions For African Problems?”

China’s top diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa, Wu Peng, tweeted on Friday a version of Beijing’s longstanding mantra “African Solutions for African Problems.” The origins of that concept, at least in the Chinese context, ...
by Eric Olander

Misinformation About South African Teacher’s Mysterious Death in Shanghai and Unsubstantiated Reports About Chinese Missiles in Zimbabwe

Speculation is now swirling on Twitter and other social media platforms about what caused the death of 29-year-old teacher Nomaqocwa Blackie who was found in her Shanghai apartment last Monday. There are a ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: South African Rand Falls for Seventh Consecutive Week due to Concerns about China’s Economic Wellbeing

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa speaking to news editors in a virtual conference.
The South African rand fell for a seventh consecutive session due in part to investor concerns about the economic well-being of the country’s largest trading partner, China.  The SA currency is now at its lowest ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Miner Sinomine Announces Pivot Away from Zambia, Citing Debt Crisis

File image of raw lithium that is the new focus of one of China's largest mining companies. Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash.
The Chinese mineral exploration and mining company Sinomine (aka China Mining Resources Group) announced on Tuesday that it’s withdrawing from a mining and construction contract with the Zambian government because of Zambia’s debt ...
by Cobus van Staden

Toll Costs in Cambodia a Warning for Kenya?

Cambodia's Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway. Photo: Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport
As Kenyan stakeholders complain because tolls to use their new Nairobi Expressway have increased before the Chinese-built road has even opened, they should spare a thought for their compatriots in Cambodia. While the toll ...
by Cobus van Staden

A Lot Has Changed in China-Africa Relations But Not Beijing’s Passion to Build Stadiums

Wu Peng is the Director-General of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of African Affairs
China improving its image in Africa by building sports stadiums is one of the hoariest cliches of Africa-China relations, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. This week, Wu Peng, China’s top diplomat ...
by Cobus van Staden

A Small African Trade Show in China Highlights Some Very Big Trends

Promotional image for the Africa high Quality Goods Fair that got underway on Thursday in five Chinese provinces.
The “Quality African Goods” (非洲好物) shopping festival kicked off on Thursday as part of a larger two-week e-commerce bonanza organized by a group of provincial governments together with China’s Ministry of Commerce. The ...
by Eric Olander

Pakistan’s PM Vows “Exemplary Punishment” For Those Who Killed Three Chinese in Karachi Bomb Attack

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with Chinese Chargé d’affaires Pang Chunxue at the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad. Image via the Prime Minister's office.
Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid a condolence visit to the Chinese embassy in Islamabad on Tuesday. He vowed revenge against those responsible for a suicide bombing in Karachi that killed three Chinese nationals ...
by Eric Olander

TRANSLATION: Chinese Ambassador Zhu Jing Reflects on His First Visit to the Congo’s Strategically Vital Southern Mining Zone

Chinese ambassador to the DR Congo, Zhu Jing, meeting with Chinese employees of the Sino-Congolese mining company SICOMINES during a recent tour of southern DRC. Image via @SICOMINES.
Chinese ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zhu Jing, is back in Kinshasa now after a week-long tour earlier this month to the country’s strategically important mining zones in Lualaba and ...
by Eric Olander

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Revealing Reactions to China’s Festival of Optics

In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...

How Chinese Companies Came to Dominate the DR Congo’s Mining Sector

Bloomberg journalists Michael Kavanagh and William Clowes are the subjects of a new mini-documentary that explains how China became the dominant foreign mining power in the DR Congo. The 17-minute video doesn’t provide any new ...
by Eric Olander

Egyptian Dairy Company Forced to Cancel Controversial TV Commercial Featuring Angry Chinese Boss

The Egyptian dairy company Green Land took down its new TV commercial this week for its spreadable cheese product that featured an angry Chinese boss berating his local employees for choosing to eat ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Lending in Africa Slumps Lowest Point in 16 Years

Chinese lending to Africa has fallen sharply, but China isn’t retreating from the continent. Rather, new data from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center show how a complex mix of global and local factors impacted ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Trade With Africa Surged in First Quarter But Expected to Slow Dramatically

Global trade figures released by China's General Administration of Customs.
Chinese trade with Africa rocketed up 24.5% in the first three months of 2022 compared to the same time last year, according to the new data released by China’s customs authorities. At a continental ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Cobalt Stakeholders Weigh In on Durban Chaos

The local food market within the “China Market” in Addis Ababa where Chinese migrants shop for vegetables and meat. Photo by Yu Jiatong.
The impact of the floods that disrupted operations at South Africa’s Durban harbor is being felt throughout the cobalt supply chain. The Swiss cobalt miner Glencore reacted by declaring force majeure, but so far ...
by Cobus van Staden

A Chinese Perspective on a Fellow Chinese-National Being Sentenced to 20 Years in Jail For Whipping Local Employee

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: A Chinese (man) Was Sentenced to 20 Years in Jail For Whipping a "Thief" in Rwanda. What Does This Tell Us?
This week’s sentencing of a Chinese mine owner in Rwanda to twenty years in prison for whipping an employee drew a sharp reaction from African netizens. However, beyond a pro forma statement ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s Decision to Join Zambian Creditor Committee is Well Received Albeit With Some Skepticism

There was a wide range of reactions to China’s decision to become a member of a new Zambian creditors committee that will convene with the aim of restructuring the African country’s $17 billion ...
by Eric Olander

Xi Hints at Plans for New China-led Global Security Order

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address at the 2022 Boao Asia Forum. Image via Xinhua.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a new global security initiative while rejecting the economic decoupling championed by the United States. Xi spoke Thursday at the Boao Forum for Asia, traditionally an ...
by Cobus van Staden

For the First Time in a Really  Long Time, a Chinese Vaccine Shipment Arrived in Africa

Wu Peng is China's top diplomat for Sub-Saharan Africa.
China’s newly-arrived ambassador to Zambia, Du Xiaohui, led a handover ceremony this weekend for a shipment of 600,000 COVID-19 vaccines. This is the first large-scale delivery of COVID jabs to Africa from China in ...
by Eric Olander

China Lockdowns Will Hit South Africa’s Economy, and Other Long Reads to Kick Off Your Week

This photo taken on April 5, 2022 shows people wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) as they transfer daily food supplies and necessities for local residents during the Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai. STR / AFP
COVID-19 lockdowns and the war in Ukraine will decrease China’s appetite for South African exports, while slowing down crucial exports of Chinese products to South Africa, according to South African analysts. 
by Cobus van Staden

Rotimi Amaechi Opponents Double Down on China Smears

A factually inaccurate cover story that alleged the Chinese government is backing Nigerian Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi in the upcoming presidential election.
Opponents of Nigerian Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi’s presidential run are using paid media content to paint him as too close to China. This is the newest attempt to link Amaechi with China, ...
by Cobus van Staden

Nairobi Expressway Tolls Increase Before It’s Even Opened

A breakdown of tolls charged to use Kenya's new Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway
Kenya’s new Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway is hiking its toll prices, even though it hasn’t opened yet. The government announced that motorists using the motorway will pay 350 Kenyan shillings ($3.03) more than previously announced, ...
by Cobus van Staden

Nairobi Expressway Will Be the Setting for This Year’s Nairobi City Marathon

Amid excitement and controversy, Kenya is celebrating the opening of its new Nairobi Expressway in the most Kenyan way possible: by running a marathon. It was recently announced that the new Chinese-built highway will be ...
by Cobus van Staden

WEEK IN REVIEW: Emerging Market Currencies under Pressure due to Ongoing Lockdowns in China

Emerging market currencies and stocks are under mounting pressure this week due to the ongoing lockdowns in China.  The South African rand fell again on Tuesday as investors are worried about the impact that ...
by Eric Olander

How Do Western and Chinese Development Models Differ? Noted Chinese Economist Weighs In

File image of Justin Yifu Lin, former World Bank chief economist and honorary dean of the National School of Development at Peking University. SAUL LOEB / AFP
While China’s financing of Global South infrastructure faces ongoing criticism from the World Bank (see above,) these traditional development institutions are partly to blame for many Global South countries’ inability to boost development.  ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Mining Boss Gets 20 Years for Whipping Rwandan Worker

Sun Shujun (top right) was charged with torture after he was filmed beating a man tethered to a pole. Prosecutors say other men pictured were also assaulted.
A Rwandan court sentenced a Chinese businessman to twenty years in prison for beating two employees. A video clip showing Sun Shujun using a rope to beat a man tied to a wooden post ...
by Cobus van Staden
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