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

Palau’s Pro-U.S. President Faces Election Test

The President of Palau Surangel Whipps Jr., speaks during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department in Washington, DC, September 29, 2022. SARAH SILBIGER / POOL / AFP
Pacific nation Palau begins voting Tuesday in a presidential election dominated by cost of living worries, China meddling claims, and the expanding military footprint of the United States. The Melanesian microstate of some 20,000 people ...
by Agence France-Presse

Brazil Passed on Joining the Belt and Road Initiative But You Would Never Know That in China

Baidu search for "Brazil Belt and Road" does not reveal any information about Brazil's decision to not join the BRI.
Chinese authorities appear to have blocked all discussion online of the news that Brazil once again refused Beijing’s invitation to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).  Since Chief Advisor to the President of ...
by Eric Olander

South China Sea Tensions Likely to be High on the Agenda During Malaysia, Vietnamese PMs Visits to Beijing This Week

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (LEFT) and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính will travel to Beijing this week for separate engagements with Chinese leaders. AFP.
Two Southeast Asian prime ministers, Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia and Vietnam’s Phạm Minh Chính, will both be in China this week on separate trips where discussions over territorial claims in the South China Sea ...
by Eric Olander

Myanmar Junta Chief to Visit China for First Time Since Coup

File image of Myanmar's junta chief military Min Aung Hlaing arrives to deliver a speech during a ceremony to mark the country's Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw on March 27, 2024. AFP
Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will travel to key ally China this week, both countries said Monday, in his first known trip there since seizing power in a 2021 coup. China is ...
by Agence France-Presse

China Says Malaysia PM to Visit Next Week

Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim speaks after his meeting with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Putrajaya on October 26, 2024. HASNOOR HUSSAIN / POOL / AFP
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will visit China next week, Beijing said Friday. The visit will take place from Monday to Thursday, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press ...
by Agence France-Presse

China Says Holds First Dual Aircraft Carrier Drills in South China Sea

The Chinese PLA Navy dual carrier armada, the Liaoning and Shandong aircraft carriers. Image via the People's Liberation Army.
China has conducted its first military drills with its two operational aircraft carriers in the contested South China Sea, state media said Thursday. State media did not specify when the exercises with the ...
by Agence France-Presse

WEEK in REVIEW: Prabowo’s Five-Nation Trip Begins with China, U.S.

Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto greets journalists in October 21, 2024. A sweeping new regulation mandates that exporters in key natural resource sectors keep 100% of their foreign exchange earnings within the country’s financial system for a full year, an aggressive strategy aimed at bolstering foreign reserves and protecting the rupiah. BAY ISMOYO / AFP
The Chinese embassy in Brazil condemned U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai for trying to discourage the South American country from joining the Belt and Road Initiative. The embassy said in a statement that Tai’s ...
by Eric Olander

Indian and Chinese Troops Gift Sweets at Contested Border

Indian and Chinese troops exchange sweets to commemorate the pullback of troops at several points along their contested border. Image via the Press Trust of India
Indian and Chinese troops exchanged boxes of sweets on Thursday at two points on their contested high-altitude border, a week after the leaders of the Asian rivals held a rare meeting. China and ...
by Agence France-Presse

China Piles Security Pressure on Pakistan

Pakistani police investigating the site of a suicide attack against Chinese engineers by the seperatist militia the Baloch Liberation Army on Sunday. Image: Rizwan Tabassum / AFP.
Chinese diplomatic messaging can sometimes be ambiguous, but that wasn’t the case this week in Pakistan. Chinese Ambassador Zhang Zaidong again emphasized that security threats against Chinese personnel is now the top issue in ...
by Cobus van Staden

India and China Complete Troop Withdrawal

Image from 2021 showing Indian soldiers and weaponry close to the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh state. Photo: Money Sharma / AFP.
Indian and Chinese troops have finalized their pull-back from two key confrontation zones along their disputed border in the Himalayas. An unnamed Indian official confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that the troop movements have ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s Copper Play in Africa: High Stakes, Riches, and Risks in Congo and Zambia

File image of Zambian copper plates loaded on a truck bound for South Africa. David Pyke / Green Eye / Biosphoto / Biosphoto via AFP)
Editor’s Note: The following story is an AI-generated summary of a report by the China Nonferrous Metals Research Institute. The original story was published on the Institute’s WeChat page in Chinese. CGSP ...
by Han Zhen

Brazil’s BRI Rejection a Setback for China

Brazilian President Lula da Silva (L) shaking hands with China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2023. Image: Ken Ishii / POOL / AFP.
After years of dithering, Brazil will reportedly not join China’s trillion-dollar connectivity project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI.) President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s special presidential advisor on International affairs, Celso ...
by Cobus van Staden

Heightened Competition in the African Phone Market Weighs on Transsion Profits

Shenzhen-based mobile phone giant Transsion Holdings has dominated the African market for over a decade, outpacing Samsung, Apple, and a handful of other Chinese brands. But now, the maker of Tecno, Itel, and ...
by Eric Olander

U.S. Welcomes India, China Efforts to Lower Border Tensions

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller. Kevin Dietsch / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
The United States on Tuesday welcomed efforts by India and China to resolve border tensions, after they recently agreed on ways to step back from their deadly 2020 confrontation. “We understand that both ...
by Agence France-Presse

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Eye-Rolling Through the Apocalypse

November’s COP30 gathering in Belém, Brazil, marks three decades since COP1 in Berlin in 1995, and raises a sobering reminder of how deep we’ve sunk into a climate morass of our own making amid non-stop warnings. The evacuation of millions of people and the deaths of at least seventeen due to Typhoon Ragasa’s rampage through the Philippines, Taiwan, and China couldn’t have been more pointedly timed as U.S. and Chinese ...

Indonesia’s Prabowo to Visit China, U.S. on First Foreign Trip: Report

Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto greets journalists in October 21, 2024. A sweeping new regulation mandates that exporters in key natural resource sectors keep 100% of their foreign exchange earnings within the country’s financial system for a full year, an aggressive strategy aimed at bolstering foreign reserves and protecting the rupiah. BAY ISMOYO / AFP
Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto will set off on his first foreign tour next month, with stops in China and the United States, local media reported Tuesday, as the new leader seeks a more ...
by Agence France-Presse

As Myanmar Nears the Brink, Worries Mount in China

Residents inspect the aftermath of junta bombings on the border city of Lashio. The recent fall of the city to rebel forces was a major blow to the military regime. Image: AFP
Myanmar’s ruling military junta is under increasing pressure from several ethnic militias. The military government, which took power in a coup in 2021, kept its grip on the country through advanced firepower, partly ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Wants “Concrete Actions” From Pakistan on Security Issues, Says Ambassador

Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong, briefed a small group of local journalists at the embassy on October 25, 2024 and urged the government in Islamabad to do more to protect Chinese nationals in the country. Image via Associated Press of Pakistan.
China’s ambassador to Pakistan invited a small group of local journalists to the embassy on Friday for a rare press conference to deliver a blunt message to the government in Islamabad: the security ...
by Eric Olander

China, India Détente Complicates U.S. Strategy in Asia, Say Analysts

U.S. President Joe Biden bids farewell to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of the Quadrilateral Summit at the Archmere Academy in Wilmington, Delaware, on September 21, 2024. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP
The U.S. State Department has been noticeably quiet in the week since India and China agreed to a partial troop pullback from their contested border in the Himalayas, saying only that they are ...
by Eric Olander

India, China Move Quickly to Pull Back Forces From Border

Satellite images published by the Indian news agency Republic purportedly show Chinese PLA forces removing structures from one zone in the Tibetan plateau following a disengagement agreement reached by the two countries. Image via Republic.
India and China are moving quickly to disengage their forces from three key sectors along their contentious border known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Satellite photos released late last week revealed ...
by Eric Olander

Myanmar’s War Approaches Mandalay a Year After Rebel Offensive

An explosion occurs during a bombardment carried out by Myanmar's military in Lashio in Myanmar's northern Shan State on September 24, 2024. AFP
On the outskirts of Mandalay, nervous Myanmar soldiers man a checkpoint just kilometers away from rebels who have set their sights on the former royal capital of 1.5 million people. Ethnic minority rebels ...
by Agence France-Presse

Indonesia Bets on SE Asia’s First Battery Plant to Become EV Hub

A worker moving battery cells to be packed for shipment at the battery manufacturing plant at PT HLI Green Power, Indonesia's first electric vehicle battery cell manufacturer, in Karawang, West Java. Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP
By Marchio Gorbiano Rows of robotic arms move with precision to assemble nickel-based battery cells on the production line at Indonesia’s inaugural electric vehicle battery plant, the first in Southeast Asia.
by Agence France-Presse

Indonesia Drives Chinese Ship From Disputed Waters Again

Indonesia has driven a Chinese coast guard ship from contested waters in the South China Sea for the third time this week, its maritime security agency said Saturday. It is the latest move ...
by Agence France-Presse

Kiribati’s Pro-China President Eyes Third Term

Kiribati's President Taneti Maamau listens during a signing ceremony for a Millennium Challenge Corporation Challenge investment at the U.S. Department of State on September 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski / AFP
Kiribati’s pro-China acting president Taneti Maamau sought a third term in power Friday, as voters chose between three candidates to lead the low-lying Pacific island. Maamau, 64, retained his seat by a landslide in August ...
by Agence France-Presse

WEEK IN REVIEW: Putin Urges BRICS to Develop SWIFT-Like Payment System

Russia's President Vladimir Putin looks on during a meeting with Iran's conservative Parliament Speaker on the sidelines of a BRICS (the bloc that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) parliamentary forum in Saint Petersburg on July 11, 2024. Valery SHARIFULIN / POOL / AFP
The Indonesian Coast Guard said it “drove out” a Chinese Coast Guard vessel from a contested area of the South China Sea. The Indonesian side was busy with a gas survey conducted by the ...
by Eric Olander

IMF Chief Seeks More Details on BRICS Payments System Plans

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva speaks during a briefing on the IMF’s Global Policy Agenda during the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC on October 24, 2024. Mandel NGAN / AFP
The IMF wants to know more about a cross-border payments system discussed by the BRICS group of countries this week and aimed at boosting non-dollar transactions, the Fund’s managing director said Thursday. The ...
by Agence France-Presse

BRICS Summit Hails Multipolarity, Calls for Global Reforms

The traditional "family photo" of national leaders marking the summit for the first time included the new BRICS member countries. Image: Maxim Shipenkov / Pool / AFP.
The BRICS+ group committed itself to global financial reform and opposing trade barriers at its leaders’ summit in Kazan, Russia. The summit, the largest diplomatic forum in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, 
by Cobus van Staden

Indonesia Says Chinese Coast Guard Ship Driven From Disputed Waters

Indonesia said Thursday it drove out a Chinese coast guard vessel from contested waters in the South China Sea twice in recent days, the latest move by a Southeast Asian nation against Beijing’s ...
by Agence France-Presse

Xi Tells BRICS Summit World Facing ‘Serious Challenges’

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a plenary session in the outreach/BRICS Plus format at the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 24, 2024. Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday told leaders of BRICS emerging economies the world was facing “serious challenges” and urged the group to be a “stabilizing force.” Xi was speaking on the final ...
by Agence France-Presse

Xi, Modi Pledge Cooperation at Historic Meeting

Image via Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official X page.
India and China agreed on Wednesday to work towards improving bilateral ties, signaling a potential thaw between the neighbors since clashes between their troops in 2020 over a contested border. Chinese President Xi ...
by Cobus van Staden

Putin Touts ‘Multipolar World Order’ at Flagship BRICS Summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a festive reception of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024. Alexander Zemlianichenko / POOL / AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday touted the creation of a new “multipolar world order” at the BRICS summit, a gathering of world leaders he hopes will show that Western attempts to isolate Moscow over ...
by Agence France-Presse
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