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

Multilateral Support for the Philippines Could Alter Course of Conflict With Beijing in South China Sea

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Frederick Hatch steams away from a pier in Tacloban, Philippines, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. Image via the U.S. Coast Guard.
If conflict were to break out in the South China Sea, the Philippines faces a much larger and more sophisticated military in China, which now has the world’s biggest naval fleet. That has ...
by Han Zhen

Philippines Drops Railway Funding Request from China Amid South China Sea Disputes

Philippines Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said Manila look for other partners to finance a $5 billion railway project after China apparently backed out. Image via Inquirer.net
The Philippines is dropping its request for Chinese loans to fund three railway projects totaling more than $5 billion. The decision comes as recent tensions between the two countries in the South China ...
by Han Zhen

Philippines Says Factions Within Its Country Echoing ‘Pro-Beijing’ Narratives

Image via @globaltimesnews
The Philippines has long been critical of what it deems China’s misinformation campaigns around increasingly contentious issues such as South China Sea disputes. But now Manila says there is a “small but vocal ...
by Han Zhen

Chinese Scholar Reveals Misgivings in Beijing About Pakistan Trade Corridor

Liu Zongyi is a senior fellow and secretary general of the South Asia and China Center, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS).
Pakistan and China frequently refer to themselves as “iron brothers” and the relationship is an important building block in China’s bulwarks against the U.S. and India. Central to this relationship is the China-Pakistan ...
by Cobus van Staden

Zimbabwe Newest Recipient of China’s Building Diplomacy

Zimbcbwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Tang Wenhong vice Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency shake hands at the handover ceremony of the new parliament building in Harare on October 27, 2023. Image via @ChineseZimbabwe.
China on Thursday formally handed over Zimbabwe’s new $100 million parliament building. The six-floor, 33,000-square-meter complex was fully funded by the Chinese government and framed as “a gift to the people of Zimbabwe.” ...
by Cobus van Staden

Q&A: Chinese, and Nigerian Researchers Collaborate on Super Sub-Saharan Africa Electricity System

Humphrey Adun. He is in a team of Chinese and Nigerian researchers modeling a massive new cross-border electricity generation and transmission system connecting 12 Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) countries.

China's strategic investments through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) showcase its aspiration to play a role in the global energy infrastructure.

by Njenga Hakeenah

Saudi Arabia Offers to Mediate Between China and the U.S.

Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the Kingdom hopes to assist the U.S. and China to improve their relationship. Fayez Nureldine / AFP
Saudi Arabia is willing to help improve the relationship between the superpowers. Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said during a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh: “If there are opportunities that we ...
by Cobus van Staden

Biden Says Pact With Philippines “Ironclad” While Asserting China Aggression in South China Sea

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a joint press conference with Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., on October 25, 2023. SAUL LOEB / AFP
U.S. President Joe Biden called China’s action towards the Philipines in the South China Sea  “dangerous” and “unlawful” and said any attack would result in U.S. involvement. “The United States defense commitment to ...
by Han Zhen

Philippines Eyes Multilateral Approach Against China in South China Sea

Philippine fishing boats in the foreground with a Chinese Coast Guard passing by in disputed waters of the South China Sea. Ted ALJIBE / AFP
The Philippines will increase multilateral activities, including freedom of navigation transits in the South China Sea and hopes more partners will “join our fight” after multiple recent run-ins with Chinese maritime forces. China’s recent ...
by Han Zhen

Views From Manila on China-Philippines Confrontations in South China Sea

Philippine fishing boat "Moises" sailing past a Chinese Coast Guard ship after the former was blocked from sailing near the Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea. Ted ALJIBE / AFP
The recent confrontations between Chinese and Filipino vessels in the South China Sea are prompting significant commentary in the Philippines media, where it appears that public opinion toward China is hardening. Commentators have ...
by Han Zhen

South China Sea Conference Wraps Up in Vietnam With High-Level Speakers From China and Other Countries

A guest speaks at the 15th Annual South China Sea International Conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The two-day 15th Annual South China Sea International Conference concluded Thursday in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, hosting speakers from dozens of countries, including China. The event took place on the heels of multiple ...
by Han Zhen

EU’s Global Gateway Moves Forward on DRC-Angola Corridor in Bid to Counter China

Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP
The European Union and the United States will launch the early stages of a logistics corridor linking the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to an export facility in Angola. This was one ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Company Exports Illegal Timber Worth Millions from DRC Despite Ban: Report

The sprayed word "Illegal" is seen on tree trunks as Greenpeace activists demonstrate against the illegal importation of timber coming from Brazil and Congo. XAVIER LEOTY XAVIER LEOTY / AFP
Congo King Baisheng Forestry Development, a Chinese-owned timber company, exported $5 million worth of illegally logged timber in the first six months of 2023 alone, according to a new report by Global Witness. ...
by Cobus van Staden

Philippines Digs in Heels in South China Sea While Also Cautioning Restraint

A U.S. Navy helicopter ferries supplies aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, a forward-deployed aircraft carrier now operating in close proximity to Chinese naval forces in the South China Sea. Image via US7th Fleet.
The Philippines appears to be employing a strategy of resolve and restraint in the South China Sea amid some of the most dangerous confrontations with China in recent memory. Manila said it will ...
by Han Zhen

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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EU’s Global Gateway Forum Aims to Take On China’s Belt and Road

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed a partnership at the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels to develop green hydrogen exports. Image via @vonderleyen.
Wednesday and Thursday will see leaders from twenty countries gathering in Brussels for the Global Gateway Forum, the newest step in the EU’s global infrastructure scheme. The forum comes a week after China’s ...
by Cobus van Staden

IMF Warns China’s Slowdown Could Hit Africa, Debunks Debt Trap Myth

Protesters at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Morocco earlier this month. Image: Fadel Senna / AFP
The International Monetary Fund released a set of reports on Africa’s economic outlook and China’s shifting role on the continent. Overall, African economies are slowly rebounding after the double shocks of the pandemic and ...
by Cobus van Staden

Kenya’s President Didn’t Go to China to Get New Loans, Says Finance Minister

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with President William Ruto at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China on October 18, 2023. Image via Xinhua.
Senior Kenyan officials are trying to set the record straight about President William Ruto’s trip to China last week and whether he went there with a billion-dollar request for new loans. Before he ...
by Eric Olander

South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank and China Construction Bank Boost Ties for Trade, Financing

South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank and China Construction Bank have extended a partnership for another five years to foster trade relations between China and Africa. The two will focus over the next five ...
by Han Zhen

China Protests Illegal Fishing Accusations

Image: AFP
China is furiously protesting claims that its distant water fishing fleets are involved in rampant illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in waters as far away as South America. This follows a report ...
by Cobus van Staden

Thai Land Bridge Project (Possibly) Gets Chinese Interest

A map of the proposed land bridge project, promoted by Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin during the Belt and Road Forum last week
Thai officials say the Chinese construction giant China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) expressed interest in a project touted by the Thai government that would build double deep-sea ports in Chumphong and Ranong, linked by ...
by Cobus van Staden

Africa-China Meetings Give Glimpse of Next Year’s FOCAC Agenda

African delegates at the China-Africa Senior Officials Meeting in Beijing. Image: Moses Odhiambo / The Star
Officials from 53 African countries and the African Union Commission are meeting in Beijing this week to discuss the implementation of goals agreed at the 2021 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit in ...
by Cobus van Staden

Mexico and China In Talks to Curb Fentanyl Trade

A file image of a U.S. DEA agent checking powdered fentanyl seized in 2019. Image: Don Emmert / AFP
Mexico and China are reportedly discussing how to control the flow of ingredients used to make fentanyl. The deadly opioid is about fifty times stronger than heroin and causes numerous overdoses in the United ...
by Cobus van Staden

U.S., China Both Operating Carrier Strike Groups in the South China Sea

Both the U.S. and China are operating carrier strike groups in relative close proximity in the South China Sea. The USS Ronald Reagan and China PLA Navy aircraft carrier Shandong are operating near the disputed Scarborough Shoal as of October 21, 2023.
The tensions that were stoked Sunday when Philippine and Chinese vessels collided in the South China Sea come at a time when China and the U.S. have numerous warships deployed in relatively close ...
by Han Zhen

China Comes to Philippines Confrontation With Cameras Ready

Image via @globaltimesnews
In previous confrontations between China and the Philippines at sea, the Chinese were slow to release video and to rebut Philippine allegations of what transpired. Not this time.
by Han Zhen

China Limits Exports of Graphite to Counter U.S. Technology Restrictions

Graphite is now the third critical resource used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries that China will restrict exports to certain countries.
The Chinese government announced it will soon restrict the export of three grades of graphite, a key ingredient in EV batteries and nuclear power plants, in retaliation for U.S.-led restrictions on technology sales ...
by Eric Olander

China Takes Advantage of Cobalt’s Low Price to Boost Strategic Reserve

Raw cobalt like this sourced from a Chinese mining company in the DR Congo will be used to bolster China's strategic reserve of the blue metal. EMMET LIVINGSTONE / AFP
The Chinese government plans to fortify its stockpile of cobalt, a critical resource used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries. Insiders tell Reuters that the Strategic Reserves Administration plans to purchase 3,100 metric tons of ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Special Mideast Envoy Largely Unseen at Cairo Peace Conference

Seen on a large screen the Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas attends the International Peace Summit hosted by the Egyptian president in the New Administrative Capital (NAC), about 45 kilometres east of Cairo, on October 21, 2023. Khaled DESOUKI / AFP
Despite all of the talk over the past year of China’s ambitions to be a major player in brokering Mideast peace, Beijing’s Special Envoy to the region, Zhai Jun, was largely absent from ...
by Eric Olander

What is China Trying to Achieve in the Middle East? Prominent Chinese Scholar Lays it Out

Wu Bingbing, director of the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Culture at Peking University. Image via People's Daily.
Chinese diplomacy in the Middle East has become a lot more prominent over the last few years, especially with its brokering of a diplomatic thaw between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Since the start ...
by Cobus van Staden

Pentagon Report Shows Not Much Has Changed in Chinese Military Engagement in the Global South

The Pentagon has issued its annual report on China’s military capability. While it notes an increase in China’s overall military strength, especially how fast it’s building up its nuclear arsenal, not much has ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Netizens Hit Out At Wang Yi’s Infrastructure Challenge

One of the many disgruntled comments that appeared on the Chinese social media platform Weibo that criticized Chinese Foreign Minister and Beijing's willingness to build infrastructure abroad. This user asked sarcastically if China now has the living standard of developed countries.
At last week’s Belt and Road Forum China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi threw down the gauntlet at the U.S.-led Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), saying, “We might as well compete internationally to ...
by Cobus van Staden
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