Live Feed

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

China Opens New Embassy in Honduras as Part of a Flurry of Diplomatic Activity Between the Two Countries This Week

Yu Bo, chargé d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Honduras, and Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina inaugurate the Chinese embassy in Tegucigalpa on Monday. Video via Xinhua.
The Chargé d’Affaires for China’s new embassy in Honduras, Yu Bo, unveiled the plaque that will be posted outside of the mission during a ceremony this week in Tegucigalpa. Monday’s ceremony capped a ...
by Eric Olander

Ministry of Commerce Blasts U.S. For Sanctions Against Chinese Companies Allegedly Involved in the Mexican Fentanyl Trade

File image of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce headquarters in Beijing. Image via Xinhua.
China’s powerful Ministry of Commerce denounced the United States for sanctioning 17 Chinese and Mexican companies and individuals last week for their alleged involvement in the fentanyl trade. The Ministry said on ...
by Eric Olander

Trend to Watch: More Hunan Cities Launch Commercial Diplomacy Initiatives in Africa

A trade delegation from the northeast Hunan city of Chenzhou posing with trade officials from South Africa during a recent visit.
Representatives from 50 African countries are expected to participate in the upcoming China-Africa Trade Expo that will take place for the third time in the central Chinese province of Hunan beginning on June 29th. ...
by Eric Olander

Why African Immigrants Won’t Help Offset China’s Declining Population

CNA or Channel News Asia is one of Singapore's state-run broadcast television channels.
China, like other large northeast Asian industrial economies, is facing a rapidly declining population that threatens its long-term economic growth. The fundamental problem is that there aren’t enough younger working-age people to support ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Envoy Waves Farewell to DRC

File image of Zhu Jing, former Chinese ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Image via Zoom Eco.
After years in the crucible of the extremely complex and contentious relationship between China and the DRC, Ambassador Zhu Jing is moving on a notably senior position in the EU. ...
by Cobus van Staden

How Chinese Distant Fishing Is Wrecking Coastal Economies

A file image of a Chinese-flagged fishing trawler anchored off Fiji. Chinese distant fishing fleets are increasingly putting pressure on coastal economies throughout the Global South. Image: William West / AFP
China’s distant fishing fleet is increasingly affecting coastal economies throughout the Global South. With an estimated 17,000 vessels, China has the world’s largest distant fishing fleet. They operate in a legal grey zone, hauling ...
by Cobus van Staden

TRANSLATION: Africa is the Most Contempible Region for Chinese Living Abroad

Cover image of Chinese writer Nie Shaorui's WeChat column that laments the poor treatment that overseas Chinese living in Africa receive from their compatriots back home.
This is the second in a series of posts that we’ve translated from the popular online writer Nie Shaorui (聂少聂) who is based in East Africa and regularly posts provocative columns about daily ...
by Han Zhen

Report: China is Top Source of Development Finance to Southeast Asia, but Competitors Rapidly Catching Up

Filtered data visualization of Chinese aid and development finance spent in Southeast Asia during the period of 2015-2021. Source: Lowy Institute.
China remained Southeast Asia’s largest source of aid and development finance even as competitors from G7 countries step up their engagement in this geopolitically strategic region, according to the findings from a new ...
by Eric Olander

Economy Minister Sergio Massa Leads Argentina’s Pivot to China, Racking Up Some Big Wins During Recent Visit

Argentina's Economy Minister Sergio Massa (L) and the President of the New Development Bank Dilma Rousseff (R) speaking during a meeting in Shanghai on June 1, 2023. MAXIMILIANO VERNAZZA / Argentinian Ministry of Economy / AFP
Argentinian Economy Minister Sergio Massa wrapped up a near-week-long visit to China on Saturday. Early indications are that it was an enormously successful trip. Massa arrived in Beijing last week with a long list ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Battery Major Gotion Poised to Build Africa’s First Gigafactory in Morocco

Representatives from Gotion High Tech and the Moroccan government signed an MOU to set up what would be Africa's largest gigafactory.
The Sino-German electric vehicle battery major Gotion High-Tech is planning to build a massive new factory in Morocco that would produce electric car batteries and energy storage systems. The company signed an MOU with ...
by Eric Olander

China’s New Ambassador-Designate to the DR Congo Arrives in Kinshasa

Ambassador-designate to the DR Congo Zhao Bin arriving at the airport in Kinshasa on Friday. Image via the Chinese Embassy in Kinshasa.
Zhao Bin, China’s new ambassador-designate to the DR Congo, arrived in Kinshasa on Friday. This is Zhao’s first assignment in Africa, which is somewhat unusual given that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs ...
by Eric Olander

‘Major’ Chinese Aid on Its Way to Ease South Africa’s Energy Crisis, Says Minister

South African Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. Image via the South African Government Communication and Information System.
The Chinese government has offered South Africa equipment like solar panels and generators that can be installed at public institutions to prevent power disruptions, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on Friday. Ramokgopa said ...
by Eric Olander

There May Actually be An Opening for the U.S. to Spur Development of Angola’s Lobito Corridor

When the United States government announced last month that it was in the midst of conducting due diligence for a $250 million financing package to develop the Lobito Atlantic Railway Corridor that connects the ...
by Eric Olander

Arab League Officials Tour Xinjiang to See How China “Respects and Safeguards Human Rights”

Members of the Arab League delegation that recently participated in a Chinese-organize tour of Xinjiang browse souvenirs in the ancient city of Kashgar. Image via Xinhua.
A 34-member delegation from the Arab League spent four days last week touring Xinjiang as part of a junket organized by the Chinese government. Chinese propaganda said the visit was specifically intended to ...
by Eric Olander

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Revealing Reactions to China’s Festival of Optics

In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...

WEEK IN REVIEW: India Announces That Next Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit Will Take Place Virtually

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a recent BRICS Summit, Image: Sergio Lima/AFP
India, the current president of the Eurasia-focused Shanghai Cooperation Organization announced the China-centered bloc’s next summit will take place virtually. According to the Indian press, the decision was aimed at avoiding awkward face-to-face meetings ...
by Eric Olander

Kenya’s First Chinese-Funded, Built Geothermal Energy Plant Paves Way for More Similar Projects

One of the very first GDC operation sites in Menengai, Nakuru County in Kenya's Rift Valley. Image by Njenga Hakeenah/CGSP
Chinese funding and technology could help accelerate Kenya’s geothermal electricity generation helping the country shift entirely to renewable energy. The first Chinese-funded privately-owned power-producing company in Kenya, Sosian Energy, will start feeding electricity generated ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

New Development Bank Wants to Finance More Projects Using Local Currencies Rather Than the U.S. Dollar

New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff said the NDB is looking to finance more projects using local currencies rather than the U.S. dollar. STR / AFP
The New Development Bank (aka the “BRICS Bank”) wants to reduce the use of the U.S. dollar when it finances projects in developing countries. The head of the Shanghai-based lender, Dilma Rousseff, ...
by Eric Olander

China, India Feud Intensifies as Both Countries Expel Nearly All Journalists From the Other Country

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing had taken "appropriate action" in response to what she described as India's unfair treatment of Chinese journalists. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Chinese government said it is taking what it described as “appropriate countermeasures” against India for expelling its journalists from the country. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters on Wednesday it would ...
by Eric Olander

Only 8% of Chinese Have a Favorable View of India, Says New Tsinghua Univeristy Poll

Source: 2023 Public Opinion Polls: Chinese Outlook on International Security published by the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University
The Chinese public is far more skeptical about relations with India than any of Beijing’s other major rivals, including the United States and Japan, according to a recent poll conducted by researchers ...
by Eric Olander

Scholar: Tense Sino-Indian Relations Now the “New Normal”

Headline translation: Lin Minwang: After reviewing the history of the trans-Himalayan geopolitical game, I found that...
China’s ties with India suffered a major blow when the two countries engaged in a brief, violent skirmish along their disputed border in the Ladakh/Tibet Autonomous Region in 2020 — triggering a surge ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Auto Major Geely Eyes Thailand to Build Regional Manufacturing and Sales Hub

Peter PARKS / AFP
Chinese auto major Geely, the country’s fourth largest, is weighing a major expansion in Southeast Asia with the creation of a sales and manufacturing hub in Thailand. Thailand’s Board of Investment met with ...
by Eric Olander

How Zambia’s Debt Mix is Forecast to Evolve

This projection of how Zambia’s public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) debt servicing will shift over the next few years showed up in a recent public lecture by the Johns Hopkins University debt expert ...
by Eric Olander

Anti-Chinese Campaign on Nigerian Twitter Raises Questions

An example of an anti-China tweet circulating on Nigerian Twitter. The same image is used repeatedly by different users. Image via @ana_petrov1
Readers following West Africa-China relations will know that unhappiness about Chinese involvement in small-scale mining is ongoing, especially in Ghana. However, a new campaign on Nigerian Twitter under the tag #STOPCHINESEILLEGALMINING is raising all kinds ...
by Eric Olander

G7 Food Security Plan “A Castle in the Sky”: Chinese Researcher

U.S. President Joe Biden (R) greets the President of the Comoros Azali Assoumani at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. Assoumani attended as head of the African Union. Image: Ludovic Marin / AFP
At their summit in Hiroshima, Japan, earlier in mid-May, the Group of Seven wealthy industrial nations committed themselves to improving global food security. The Hiroshima Statement for Resilient Global Food Security called for increasing ...
by Eric Olander

Q&A: Hong Kong Expertise Playing Pivotal Role in Transitioning Popular Motorbike Taxis in Kenya

Andy Gao, Omnivoltaic CEO with one of the Kenyan technicians, S. Kibet showcasing one of the electric bikes assembled in Kenya. Njenga Hakeenah / CGSP
A small group of entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and China is pioneering a new e-mobility business model in Kenya that aims to revolutionize the country’s ubiquitous motorbike taxis known as bodabodas. Tucked away in a ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

Russia Not the Only Big Issue At BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting This Week

A display of member country flags at an opening ceremony at the New Development Bank this week. Image: STR / AFP
The Foreign Ministers of the BRICS group will meet in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday. The meeting is an important step towards the BRICS summit in August. The South African government announced this ...
by Cobus van Staden

Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone Attracts Chinese Investment Bonanza

A file image of China's President Xi Jinping (L) meeting his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in 2016. Image: AFP / Egyptian Government
Egypt’s Chinese-built Suez Canal Economic Zone attracted a whopping $3 billion in Chinese investments, according to its chairperson Walid Gamal El-Din following his visit to Beijing in late May. The deals cover a ...
by Cobus van Staden

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Wraps Up 5-Day Visit to China

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen Hassen met with his Chinese counterpart last week but no specifics of their discussion were released to the public. Image via Xinhua.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen Hassen, who is also deputy prime minister, concluded a five-day visit to China on Sunday following meetings with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. None ...
by Eric Olander

Both Kenya and China Dismiss Reuters Report on Chinese Hacking as “Sheer Nonsense” and “Sponsored Propaganda”

The Chinese and Kenyan governments issued separate statements that blasted last week’s report by Reuters that claimed Chinese hackers had penetrated the computer networks of eight Kenyan ministries. Citing security concerns, the report ...
by Eric Olander

The Kenyan Government Apparently is Unaware China Doesn’t Finance Railways in Africa Anymore

The dotted line shows the proposed expansion of the SGR to Kenya's border with Uganda.
The Kenyan government is going to make one more attempt to try and persuade China’s policy banks to lend them money to extend the Standard Gauge Railway from its current terminus in the Rift ...
by Eric Olander
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