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

China’s Total Global Trade Fell Last Year Except With Africa, Australia

The value of China’s total global trade dipped 5% in 2023 compared to the previous years to $5.93 trillion dollars, according to figures released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC). Every January, ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Top Africa Diplomat Arrives in Nigeria Days After Blinken Visit

Wu Peng is the Director-General for African Affairs in the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Image via @WuPeng_MFAChina on X.
China’s most senior diplomat for African affairs, Wu Peng, arrived in Abuja on Friday, just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Nigerian capital. Wu is currently on a tour ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese EV Giant BYD Launches in Rwanda

BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, is continuing its expansion in Africa when it launches soon in Rwanda. The company made the announcement on X last week but did not provide specific ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Nauru Officially Switched Diplomatic Allegiance From Taiwan to China

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi toasts with Nauru's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Lionel Aingimea after signing the Joint Communiqué on the Resumption of Diplomatic Relations between China and Nauru, at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on January 24, 2024. Andrea Verdelli / POOL / AFP
Indian naval forces are closely monitoring the movements of a Chinese research vessel operating in the Indian Ocean that is making its way towards the Maldives. Although these Chinese research ships are not officially ...
by Eric Olander

3 Things Kenya’s Foreign Minister Should Focus On During 3-Day China Visit

Kenya's Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi arrived on Wednesday in Beijing for three days of talks with senior Chinese officials. Image via OPCS.
Kenya’s top diplomat Musalia Mudavadi kicked off a three-day official visit to China on Wednesday, where he will hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other senior officials. The visit comes at a crucial ...
by Eric Olander

China, Vietnam Tensions Flare Anew Over South China Sea Islands

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin. Image via MFA_China on X.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry pushed back against accusations this week by the Vietnamese government that a pair of disputed islands in the South China Sea that were captured by China in a 1974 ...
by Eric Olander

Global Split At China’s Human Rights Review

United Nations Human Rights Council during the review of China's rights record at the UN Offices at Geneva on January 23, 2024. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
The UN Human Rights Council’s current hearing on China’s human rights record is exposing a global split. The Universal Periodic Review process happens once every 4.5 years for all member states. However, China’s turn ...
by Cobus van Staden

Argentina and Ghana to Play a Friendly in Beijing Next Month

Soccer legend Lionel Messi will lead the Argentinian national team in a friendly against the Black Stars from Ghana in China. Daniel RAMALHO / AFP
Argentina officially confirmed on Wednesday that it will play an international friendly against Ghana’s Black Stars in Beijing on March 26th. China-Argentina relations have been wobbly since the recent election as president of ...
by Eric Olander

Frantic Attempts to Rescue Seven Workers Trapped in Chinese Mine in Zambia

Map showing the location of a Chinese-operated mine where seven workers are trapped underground.
Zambian authorities are rushing to pump water and mud from a Chinese-owned mine in time to rescue five Zambian and two Chinese workers trapped underground. The workers were caught by an inrush of ...
by Cobus van Staden

China in Damage-Control Mode in Pakistan

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong met with Pakistan General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in Rawalpindin on January 24, 2023. Image via Xinhua.
Sun Weidong, China’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, had a high-profile meeting in Pakistan, days after tit-for-tat airstrikes between the South Asian country and Iran killed at least twelve people. The ostensible reason ...
by Cobus van Staden

German President in Vietnam to Lessen Dependence on China

Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Vietnam's President Võ Văn Thưởng shake hands during a welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on January 23, 2024. Nhac NGUYEN / AFP
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is in Vietnam with a delegation of business executives. While Germany is already heavily invested in the Southeast Asian country, the visit feeds into Berlin’s larger mission to “de-risk” its ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Gathers Global South Support for UN Human Rights Review

China will be the subject of a Universal Public Review on Tuesday at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP
The Chinese government is reportedly lobbying non-Western countries to support its human rights record as it faces a United Nations Human Rights Council review on Tuesday. Diplomats told Reuters that China’s mission ...
by Cobus van Staden

Report: Chinese Investment Trends in Latin America Reveal Priorities of the New, More Strategic BRI

Chinese FDI in "new infrastriucture" industries across Latin America and the Caribbean between 2003 and 2022. Source: Author calculations using Dealogic and FdiMarkets; includes both M&A and greenfield FDI data.
China’s investments in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are undergoing a dramatic shift away from large-scale infrastructure projects towards more strategic sectors like critical minerals, telecommunications and renewable energy, according to the ...
by Eric Olander

U.S. Bill Targets China’s Critical Mineral Stake

File image of cobalt processing facility in the DR Congo city of Lumbubashi. SAMIR TOUNSI / AFP
U.S. senators introduced legislation that would make federal agencies regularly track critical mineral and rare earth deposits around the world and who controls them. The Critical Minerals Security Act of 2024 would highlight ...
by Cobus van Staden

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

How to Lure Chinese Financing Back to the Global South: Report

Global South countries face increasing financing pressure, endangering their ability to keep developing while also implementing measures to deal with a growing climate crisis. The disruption of global trade is coupled with a larger megatrend: flows of international capital to the developing world have turned negative. This means that countries are now routinely paying more to service loans than they receive in disbursements.

The vast majority of Global South borrowers ...

Zambian and Chinese Miners Trapped Underground

Map showing the location of a Chinese-operated mine where seven workers are trapped underground.
Seven miners, including five Zambians and two Chinese nationals, are reportedly stuck in Zambia’s Chinese-owned Macrolink Mine.  The mine is still under construction and hasn’t been commissioned yet. The miners are trapped ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Embassy in Namibia Exploits Workers: Activist

Statement by the Chinese embassy in Namibia that refutes allegations by a local civil society activist who alleges gross labor rights violations at the mission.
China’s embassy in Namibia rejected allegations by a labor activist that Namibian staff are consistently underpaid and exploited. Michael Amushelelo (a leader in the socialist Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters movement) wrote in a Facebook ...
by Cobus van Staden

Blinken in Africa This Week Where He Will Try Hard to Avoid Talking About China

Security and infrastructure development are expected to top the agenda of U.S. Secretary of State Antony's Blinken four-nation visit to Africa that got underway on Sunday. File image by EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP.
One week after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrapped up a four-nation visit to Africa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday embarked on his own week-long, four-stop tour of the continent that ...
by Eric Olander

Wang Yi Wrapped Up LatAm-Caribbean Tour With Stops in Brazil and Jamaica

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in Kingston on Saturday during the final stop of a six-nation international tour. Image via @AndrewHolnessJM.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi headed back home on Sunday after a ten-day tour of Africa and the Americas that ended in Jamaica, where he met with Prime Minister Andrews Holness. Before arriving ...
by Eric Olander

How China is Both Benefiting and Suffering From the Houthi Attacks in the Red Sea

Houthi militants in Yemen confirmed on Friday that Chinese and Russian vessels will be granted safe passage through the Red Sea while ships from other countries, particularly those from the U.S. and Europe on ...
by Eric Olander

Israel’s Ambassador to China Seeks to Maintain Economic Ties Amid Strains Over Gaza War

Israeli ambassador to China Irit Ben-Abba Vitale said she's trying to revitalize economic ties between the two countries amid serious political differences over the Gaza war. Image via PhoenixTV News
Israel’s ambassador to China, Irit Ben-Abba Vitale, acknowledged that her government and China have not been able to resolve their differences over the war in Gaza but said that she hopes the dispute ...
by Eric Olander

Shake-Up in China’s Maritime Militia in South China Sea

More than two dozen Chinese fishing vessels, part of the country's informal maritime militia, were spotted heading to disputed territories in the South China Sea near the Spratly islands and Scaborough shoal. Image via @GordianKnotRay.
China’s informal maritime militia in the South China Sea is reportedly undergoing a “major rotation” with 27 vessels, mostly medium-size fishing ships, heading to disputed areas near the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal. ...
by Eric Olander

Tshisekedi Says Restructured Chinese Mining Deal Will Pave the Way for $7 Billion in New Infrastructure

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi during his swearing-in Ceremony at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa, on January 20, 2024. Arsene MPIANA MONKWE / AFP
Félix Tshisekedi was sworn in this weekend for a second five-year term following a landslide victory in December in an election that many of his opponents say was stolen. The president took the ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Factories in Ethiopia Close as Business Environment Worsens

When Ontex's Ethiopian factory was fully operational, it produced 400,000 diapers per hour. The factory closed after drawn out tax disputes with the government. Image via the Africa Research Group.
The IMF is forecasting the Ethiopian economy will grow 6.2% this year, an impressive figure for a country that is digging itself out of a massive debt hole and recovering from the trauma ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Saudi Arabia Apparently Still Not yet a Member of the BRICS Club

An unnamed official hides behind flags at a recent BRICS event. Wu Hong / AFP
Saudi Arabia is apparently still not yet a member of the BRICS club despite its membership being announced at the same time as when other new members joined the bloc. The Kingdom’s commerce minister Majid al-Kasabi confirmed on Tuesday Riyadh has “not yet officially joined.” (REUTERS) China’s long-serving special ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese, Indian Forces Clashed Twice in 2022 in Previously Unreported Skirmishes Along Disputed Border

Unresolved territorial claims complicating China-India border relations.
Indian and Chinese military forces along the two countries’ disputed border in the Himalayas engaged in two previously unreported clashes back in 2022, even as both sides were engaged in talks at diffusing ...
by Eric Olander

Ghana Announces Debt Deal

File image of Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. SAUL LOEB / AFP
Ghana announced a deal with its official creditors that would push back loan repayments until 2026. The government also says it will strike a deal with Eurobond investors for a new deal on ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Foreign Minister in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meeting with his Togolese counterpart Robert Dussey on January 16, 2024 in Lomé. Image via Xinhua.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded his African tour in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire this week after touching down in Egypt and Tunisia during the trip’s first phase. The official press coverage revealed few ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Nickel Plants Driving Pollution, Land Grabs in Indonesia: Report

A massive Chinese nickel mining and refining complex in the Indonesian region of North Maluku is causing massive environmental and human rights abuses, according to a new report from Climate Rights International.
by Cobus van Staden

China Will Not Tolerate The Philippines Building on Disputed Islands in the South China Sea, Says Spokesperson

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning at the regular press briefing in Beijing on January 15, 2023. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning made it clear on Tuesday that Beijing will actively oppose any effort by the Philippines to upgrade any of its outposts on disputed islands in the South ...
by Han Zhen

“Strong Indication” Safety Violation Led to Massive Fire at Chinese-Owned Nickel Factory, Says Indonesia

Guntur (pseudonym), 32, a victim of nickel smelter furnace explosion in nickel industrial processing complex Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, undergoes his severe burn treatment in a local hospital in Morowali, Central Sulawesi on January 5, 2024. Photo by Mas Agung Wilis Yudha Baskoro.
Indonesian authorities suggested that safety violations and negligence may be responsible for a fire at a Chinese-owned nickel smelter last month that killed 21 workers. The massive blaze erupted at a furnace in ...
by Eric Olander
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