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

Chinese Media Hints at Change in India’s Taiwan Policy When There Really Wasn’t Any

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: "India Suddenly Issues Statement on Taiwan"
Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagch reiterated on Friday New Delhi’s longstanding position on the One-China Policy and reaffirmed that New Delhi remains committed to the status quo regarding Taiwan. There was nothing ...
by Eric Olander

Huawei’s India CEO Tells Court “I am a Chinese National, Not a Terrorist”

File image of the Huawei Research and Development Centre in Bangalore, India. Manjunath KIRAN / AFP
Huawei’s CEO for India, Li Xiongli, borrowed a line from a popular Indian movie in a court plea on Friday to be released on bail following his arrest on tax charges. “I am a Chinese (national) and not ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Official Dismisses Reports of Xi Trip to Saudi Arabia as “Gossip”

Wang Cheng (王诚) is a longtime official in the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
While Twitter was abuzz with speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping would travel to Saudi Arabia this week based on a story in The Guardian, Wang Cheng, a highly-respected and normally very reliable Commerce Ministry ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: United States Marine General Michael Langley Took Over as the Top U.S. Commander for Africa on Tuesday

Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley (center right) has been recommended to succeed to General Stephen Townsend to lead AFRICOM. Image via @USFleetForces.
United States Marine General Michael Langley took over as the top U.S. commander for Africa on Tuesday, heading U.S. military operations on the continent.  General Langley assumed command from Army General Stephen Townsend who was among ...
by Eric Olander

This Chart May Explain Why the Indian Government is Cracking Down on Chinese Tech Companies

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Aug 2022
Chinese technology companies all but control the Indian smartphone market which may explain the motivation for New Delhi to try and force some of them to exit the market to make room for domestic competitors.
by Cobus van Staden

China More Popular than the United States Across MENA: Poll

A breakdown of public approval of the U.S. and China across the MENA region. Graph by Arab Barometer.
The United States is markedly less popular than China in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), according to a new poll by Arab Barometer. The Princeton University-based 
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Phone-Makers Chafe Under Indian Pressure

The intense localization of Chinese phone companies in India seemed like a winning strategy. Now Indian government pressure is changing that. Image via AFP.
The Indian government’s apparent move to ban cheap Chinese-made smartphones is causing much unhappiness among Chinese companies that have worked hard to localize their presence there.  Some Chinese companies are now contemplating leaving ...
by Cobus van Staden

Long Read: Is Great Power Competition in Africa a Problem? Not Necessarily

A billboard in the Democratic Republic of Congo marking the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Africell is a U.S.-supported mobile phone company. Image via AFP
As geopolitics become more polarized, the idea that both the U.S. and China have something to offer Africa has fallen out of vogue in both Washington and Beijing.  However, the prominent Africa-China researcher ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Refines Its Rebuttal to Persistent Debt Trap Accusations

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: "Western private lenders are the cause of Africa's heavy debts"
No matter how often the Chinese debt trap narrative is refuted by leading scholars around the world, policymakers in the U.S. and Europe seem unable to resist using the trope ...
by Eric Olander

Sri Lanka Relents to Indian Pressure and Requests China to Defer Military Ship’s Arrival

Chinese surveillance ship the Yuan Wang 5
Sri Lanka said on Monday it had asked China to defer the planned visit of a Chinese ship to the island country after initially approving its arrival this week, yielding to diplomatic pressure ...
by Eric Olander

New Chinese Electric Vehicles Roll Off the Assembly Line in Indonesia

TWEET TRANSLATION: This morning, together with the Minister of Industry, we attended the launch ceremony for Wuling's first electric vehicle production in Indonesia. Wuling Indonesia has created more than 10,000 jobs locally and is actively responding to the Indonesian government's green economy plan!
China’s ambassador to Indonesia, Lu Kang, led a launch ceremony on Monday for the new Wuling Air EV that began to roll off a billion-dollar local assembly in the central industrial city of Cikarang. ...
by Eric Olander

Even Before Blinken Unveiled the New U.S. Strategy For Africa, China Didn’t Like It

Hours before Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the new U.S. strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa, China’s nationalist tabloid newspaper began publishing stories that attacked the U.S. for “attempting to bring the continent back ...
by Eric Olander

Many Chinese Netizens Are Framing the Blinken Visit and the New U.S. Strategy in the Context of Great Power Competition

The Blinken visit to Africa and the unveiling of the new U.S. strategy for the continent were not widely covered by Chinese media on Monday but a few online commentators, some with sizable ...
by Eric Olander

Blinken’s Comments on Taiwan Spark Furious Response From Chinese Embassy in South Africa

Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken triggered an uproar by the Chinese embassy in Pretoria over comments that he made about Taiwan in an interview with South African television news channel eNCA: ...
by Eric Olander

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The G20 Summit and the Half-Life of a Joke

When it was announced in 2023 that the African Union would become a full member of the G20, I darkly joked on a podcast that the AU’s entry into the body could very well mark the moment the G20 lost its status as one of the most important global coordination forums. Mark my words, I said, soon The Economist will be like “Uhhh, the G20 is OVER – it’s the ...

Chinese Foreign Ministry Claps Back at Latest U.S. Debt Trap Accusation

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying speaking at the regular press briefing in Beijing. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The seemingly never-ending dispute over supposed Chinese debt traps in Africa flared anew on Monday when Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying launched a lengthy rebuttal to the latest accusation on the issue by ...
by Eric Olander

China Keeps Mobilizing African Leaders Against the U.S. on Taiwan

Chinese officials are not pulling back from the large-scale media campaign they launched last week to gather support in Africa against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan. China continued a ...
by Eric Olander

Why the Taiwan Crisis Resonates in Somalia

While a number of African countries over the past week have telegraphed their support of Beijing’s One China Policy, few have reached Somalia’s level of enthusiasm. For Mogadishu, the Taiwan issue hits closer to ...
by Eric Olander

Blinken Didn’t Want to Talk About China During His African Visit. Good Luck with That.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at Lanseria International Airport in Johannesburg on August 7, 2022. Andrew Harnik / POOL / AFP
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken kicked off a three-nation African tour on Sunday in Johannesburg in what State Department officials had hoped would be a chance to reset Washington’s ties with the continent and ...
by Eric Olander

China Posts Double Digit Trade Growth in First Half of 2022

China's General Administration of Customs released lastest global trade figures released on Sunday.
China’s total global trade jumped 10.3% in the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year, according to new figures released on Sunday by the General Administration of Customs. ...
by Eric Olander

Dozens of Diplomats From Muslim-Majority Countries Tour Xinjiang

Cao Li is a Counsellor in the Information Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Chinese government organized another tour of Xinjiang for dozens of diplomats from Muslim majority countries in Asia and the Middle East. In all, 32 diplomats visited three cities (Kashgar, Aksu, and Urumqi) last week ...
by Eric Olander

A Picture Many Thought They’d Never See

Kenyan avocados are finally available to local distributors at the Shanghai Huizhan Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market. It took years and years of negotiations for this to happen. (PRODUCE REPORT)
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: China will Remove Import Duties From 98% of Products Imported From 16 Low-Income Countries

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivering his keynote address at FOCAC 8. Image via Xinhua.
China will remove import duties from 98% of products imported from 16 low-income countries from the beginning of September, according to the Ministry of Finance. They include African countries like Togo, Mozambique, Chad, and Rwanda, ...
by Eric Olander

At 29 years old I travelled to Africa, After a Year I Decided to Go Back Home

One of vlogger Daxue’s youtube videos documenting his experience buying groceries in a local market in Zambia with his secretary and his bodyguard.
Chinese vloggers in Africa have a mixed track record. On the one hand, some vloggers contribute to dissolving Chinese misconceptions towards Africa/Africans by illuminating what daily life is like in many African countries. ...
by Han Zhen

Taiwan Firestorm Makes Clear Why the Global South Avoids China’s “Red Lines”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi commented on Nancy Pelosi's visit this week to Taiwan from the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Phenom Penh. Image via CGTN.
In a week of strident warnings from Beijing, one stood out. China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers that:  “Those who play with fire will ...
by Cobus van Staden

How a Major Shift in Chinese Lending is Backfiring Across the Global South

Chinese lending is increasingly shifting from boosting development to helping indebted countries keep the lights on. This is now adding to debt distress across the developing world. AidData, a research group at the College ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Reactions to Zambia’s Debt Deal

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Zambia to test China's ability to manage debt relief
Zambia’s debt restructuring, in which China played a key role, is raising concern among ordinary Chinese, judging by WeChat conversations.  Recent grassroots discussions on WeChat communities of Chinese in Africa quoted unnamed sources worrying that the ...
by Eric Olander

Tanzania and Zambia to Revive TAZARA Rail Line

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan welcomes her Zambian counterpart Hakainde Hichilema for an official state visit. Image via @HHichilema.
The leaders of Tanzania and Zambia have agreed to find the money to refurbish the Chinese-built TAZARA rail line. The line, built at great financial and human cost by China in the early ...
by Eric Olander

No, Nigeria Didn’t Ship 7,000 Human Penises to China

Nigerian social media is aflame with a rumor that a container of human penises was sent to China from the West African country.  The rumor originated last year. It caused consternation in the Nigerian ...
by Eric Olander

Global South Media Reactions to Nancy Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan

Visiting US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (C) waves to journalists during her arrival at the Parliament in Taipei on August 3, 2022. Sam Yeh / AFP
Congo: On August 2, Jean-Claude Gakosso, the foreign minister of the Republic of Congo, said that adhering to the one China principle is the consistent policy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Congo, ...
by Han Zhen

After Zambia’s Successful Debt Restructuring, Sri Lankans Hope China Will Also Take the Lead to Help Resolve Their Crisis

Arun SANKAR / AFP
Now that Zambia’s Creditor Committee reached a landmark debt restructuring deal with its bilateral lenders, there’s new optimism that the same will happen in Sri Lanka.
by Eric Olander
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