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

Kenyan Parliament to Investigate Debunked SGR Rumors

A Kenyan parliamentary oversight committee wants to review the controversial contract for the Chinese-built Standard Gauge Railway. But rather than addressing the contract’s opacity, it will again focus on the rumor that it ...
by Cobus van Staden

Mapping China’s Influence Tools in Africa

How does China build influence in Africa and the wider Global South? A new report from the hawkish U.S. think tank, the National Bureau of Asian Research features prominent researchers’ accounts of different ...
by Cobus van Staden

WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese Oil Major Sinopec and Algerian Oil Giant Sonatrach Signed a $500 Million deal to Drill for Oil and Gas

Johannes EISELE / AFP
Chinese oil major Sinopec and Algerian oil giant Sonatrach signed a half-a-billion dollar deal to drill for oil and gas in the Zaarzaitine field, 1500km from Algiers. Under the new agreement, the two ...
by Eric Olander

China’s About to Buy a Lot More Russian Oil and That’s Bad News for Iran

Iran’s once steady business of selling large quantities of oil to China’s independent refineries may soon become the latest casualty of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  For years, China provided Iran a vital cash ...
by Eric Olander

Republican Senators Find New Reason to Hate the Iran Nuclear Deal… China

Marsha Blackburn is a Republican Senator from Tennessee.
Conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate are well-known for their disdain for Iran. They’re also equally opposed to the Communist Party of China. So, it’s a no-brainer then to combine the two into ...
by Eric Olander

China Tried (and Failed) to Intimidate Israeli Newspaper Editor Over Interview With Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu

Yaakov Katz is the Editor in Chief of the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Chinese diplomats around the world have a well-earned reputation for personally calling journalists and their editors (including this publication) to express their objections, often rudely, when there is coverage they don’t like — ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese, Algerian Legislative Leaders Meet

TWEET TRANSLATION: The Speaker of the National Assembly Algeria, Salih Gojil, spoke on Tuesday, via video, with Wang Yang, chairman of the National Council of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference China, where they reviewed ways to advance bilateral relations in the interest of the two peoples and two countries. Two friends.
The head of Algeria’s National Assembly, Salih Gojil, met on Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yang, chairman of China’s rubber-stamp legislature known by its acronym CPPCC. Based on the read-out from the ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Tecno Brand Dominates Kenyan Mobile Phone Market

Tecno retailer in Nairobi, Kenya. by Cliff Mboya/CGSP.
Kenya’s mobile phone market shrank by 9% in the first quarter of the year, according to new data from technology consultancy IDC, but even a drop that large didn’t budge Transsion’s Tecno brand from ...
by Eric Olander

The Chinese-Built Standard Gauge Railway Turned Five This Week

Celebrations at the debut of the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya on May 31, 2017. Simon Mania/AFP.
This week marked the five-year anniversary of the Chinese-financed and built Standard Gauge Railway that officially launched on May 31, 2017. The milestone was largely ignored by the Kenyan press but was noted ...
by Eric Olander

The Chinese Government Is Almost Giddy About the Prospect That U.S. Summit of the Americas Is Going to Be a PR Disaster

A political cartoon published by the nationalist tabloid Global Times. Image via Global Times.
The U.S. Summit of the Americas is set to get underway in Los Angeles on Monday and no one seems more eager for the event to get started than China. Chinese state media ...
by Eric Olander

Unsurprisingly, China Not Happy With Western Media Coverage of Wang Yi’s Pacific Tour

China’s state-run media responded angrily to the characterization by international media that Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s ongoing South Pacific tour encountered a snag after the coalition of 10-Pacific Islander Countries refused to endorse ...
by Eric Olander

Another Prominent Chinese Scholar Explains Why Beijing Shouldn’t be That Concerned About IPEF

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Some thoughts on the "Indo Pacific Economic Framework"
It’s been one week since the United States unveiled its new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) agenda that is ostensibly intended to build and foster deeper U.S. economic engagement in Asia but ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese EV Giant BYD Looks for Lithium in Africa and Expands Dealer Network in Brazil

Image via BYD.
Two big stories this week about the Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD: BATTERIES: Rather than buy lithium, a key ingredient in EV batteries, on the open market and face steadily rising prices, the company ...
by Eric Olander

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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Australia Breathes a Big Sigh of Relief After Pacific Island Countries Push Back Against China

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama shaking hands with visiting Austrlian Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Image via @FijiPM.
You can see from the expression on visiting Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s face the palpable relief from the reception that she received in Fiji over the weekend and, no doubt, to the ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Lending Poses “Serious Danger” to Poor Countries Warns German Chancellor

Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives for the first day of a special meeting of the European Council at The European Council Building in Brussels on May 30, 2022. Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz became the latest Western leader to warn about the purported systemic risks to the global economy posed by Chinese lending to developing countries.  Chancellor Scholz ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Tecno and Infinix Ranked Among the Top Brands in Africa

Brand Africa 2021 survey rankings.
Transsion’s Tecno unit slipped a spot to #6 in Brand Africa’s annual ranking of the most admired brands but it still remained firmly in the top ten and was the highest-ranked ...
by Eric Olander

China Celebrates African Business Competition Launched by a Man and His Former Company Who Shall Not Be Named

Chen Xiaodong is China's ambassador to South Africa.
Up until a few years ago, the annual African Business Heroes (ABH) competition was a huge deal, generating massive online excitement. Today, well, not so much. In fact, ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Heavy Rains Are Once Again Pounding South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province

Residents of Umlazi township stand over a bridge and watch containers that fell over at a container storage facility following heavy rains and winds in Durban, on April 12, 2022. Phill Magakoe / AFP
Heavy rains are once again pounding South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, no doubt causing serious concern among mining companies in neighboring Zambia and DRCongo who rely heavily on the KZN’s Port of Durban to export ...
by Eric Olander

Wang Yi Lands in the South Pacific With Big Ambitions to Expand Chinese Influence in the Region

Solomon Island's Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele escorts Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi upon arrival at the Henderson International Airport in Honiara. STRINGER / AFP
Great Power politics arrived in the South Pacific on Wednesday night when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a 20-member entourage landed in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara. Wang is embarking on a 10-day, seven-nation ...
by Eric Olander

Wang South Pacific Tour Provokes Strong Response From Both Australia and New Zealand

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo on May 24, 2022. ISSEI KATO / POOL / AFP
Anxieties in Australia and New Zealand about China’s growing influence in the Solomon Islands and the greater South Pacific had already been running high before Wang’s arrival on Wednesday. Now, however, those worries ...
by Eric Olander

Solomon Islands Media Protest Press Restrictions During Wang’s Visit

The Media Association of Solomon Islands announced that it will boycott a “press conference” on Thursday with Wang Yi and his SI counterpart Jeremiah Manele to protest against rules that only allow the ...
by Eric Olander

Drivers Who Claim They’re Broke Force Chinese Contractor to Re-Think Nairobi Expressway Toll Plan

File image of a toll station on the Nairobi Expressway. Simon MAINA / AFP
It’s been a rocky start for the new Chinese-built Nairobi Expressway that opened to the public two weeks ago. Complaints that the tolls are too high, accidents, and now massive traffic jams have all marred what the ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe Can’t Stop Talking About the “Malicious Activities” of Another “Foreign Embassy” in Harare

The Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe has been on a tear for the past several weeks, angrily fuming on its Twitter feed and in local press interviews about the “malicious activities” of “#Mr1K” aka a “certain foreign embassy” ...
by Eric Olander

A Chinese Appeal For Compatriots Not to Abuse Local Workers in Africa

Videos of Chinese mine bosses abusing local workers in Rwanda (top left), Democratic Republic of the Congo (top right) and Sierra Leone (bottom).
Earlier this year, the head of security at a Chinese company in Zimbabwe posted videos to his Douyin account (the Chinese equivalent of TikTok) that showed him beating and illegally detaining local workers, according ...
by Eric Olander

GM Begins Exporting Chevy Onix From China To Mexico

SAIC-GM, General Motors’ main joint venture in China, announced on Sunday that it sent the first shipment of 200 Chevy Onix units manufactured at the GM Dong Yue plant to supply the local market of ...
by Eric Olander

Quad Announces Infrastructure, Shipping Initiatives as China Looms Large

US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend the Quad Leaders Summit at Kantei in Tokyo on May 24, 2022. Yuichi Yamazaki / POOL / AFP
The leaders of the United States, India, Japan, and Australia committed to funneling $50 billion in infrastructure to the Indo-Pacific region and will launch a real-time system to track ships. While China wasn’t mentioned by name, ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s Foreign Minister to Visit Seven Pacific Island States

Map of Wang Yi's itinerary in the Pacific region, via Global Times
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is embarking on a ten-day tour of Pacific Island states this week. Kicking off with the Solomon Islands, the tour will also take Wang to Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, ...
by Cobus van Staden

Once a Leading Player in Kenya’s Mobile Phone Market, Huawei Hopes Budget Phones Will Help It Make a Comeback

The new Y Series budget line of smartphones by Huawei is reportedly poised to launch in Kenya. Image via Huawei.
Huawei’s moribund mobile phone business in Kenya is showing signs of life. The company was once among the dominant mobile phone brands in Africa, including Kenya, but that business all but stopped in 2019 ...
by Eric Olander

China’s New Ambassador to Rwanda A Man of Mystery?

Wang Xuekun (r) being welcomed in Rwanda, image via Xinhua
Wang Xuekun, China’s new ambassador-designate has arrived in Rwanda. While most announcements of new Chinese diplomatic postings highlight the ambassador’s track record in the region, the Foreign Ministry only listed his birth date and: “He ...
by Cobus van Staden
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