Live Feed

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

Wang Yi Makes Unannounced Visit to Uzbekistan on His Way to Europe

Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, met with Bakhtiyor Saidov, Uzbekistan's acting foreign minister. Image via Xinhua.
China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, made an unannounced stopover in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent to meet with acting foreign minister Bakhtiyor Saidov. After the meeting, Wang then traveled to Paris, where ...
by Eric Olander

Iran Leans Into Ties With China to Ease the Sanctions Burden From the U.S., Say Scholars

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Iran "Looks East," Focusing More on Its Own Domestic Development and the East
Iran’s shift away from engagement with the U.S. and Europe and towards China is the key theme of this week’s visit to Beijing by President Ebrahim Raisi, according to two of China’s leading ...
by Eric Olander

India Adds to Mounting Pressure on China to Resolve Debt Relief Impasse With IMF, World Bank

File image of Amitabh Kant, sherpa for India during its presidency of the G20 this year. CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP
The Indian government called on China to stop blocking the debt restructuring process for the world’s poorest countries, adding to the pressure on Beijing ahead of a critical meeting with the World Bank ...
by Eric Olander

Philippines Summons Chinese Ambassador Over Laser Incident at Sea

Image from the Philippines Coast Guard on February 13th that purportedly shows a Chinese Coast Guard targeting them with a military grade laser. AFP
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos summoned China’s ambassador to express his “serious concern” over Monday’s alleged use of a military grade laser by a Chinese Coast Guard vessel against nearby Philippines ships in the ...
by Eric Olander

Ugandan Food Vlogger in Rural China Becomes Unlikely Social Media Star

30-year Ugandan immigrant Rose is now a full-fledged social media star on China’s TikTok equivalent Douyin. Now, with more than a million followers and almost 200 million likes, Rose (who doesn’t reveal her ...
by Eric Olander

Background: Why China-Iran Relations Are a Lot More Complicated Than They Appear

Bill Figueroa is a research associate at the University of Cambridge Centre for Geopolitics and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on China-Iran relations. The analysis below is copied ...
by Cobus van Staden

FT Reporting Error Sparks Widespread Confusion Over Zambia’s Views on China’s Role in Debt Restructuring Process

Botched reporting in a Financial Times article on Zambian debt made clear how nervous China’s push for the World Bank and other multilateral financers to accept losses as part of debt restructuring is making international ...
by Cobus van Staden

FT Report Provokes Strong Response From U.S., UK Analysts Over China’s Duel With Multilateral Development Banks

Mark Sobel is the U.S. chairman of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum.
FT’s claim (subsequently walked back) that the Zambian Finance Minister rejected China’s call to include the World Bank and other multilateral lenders in debt restructuring triggered responses from prominent commentators across Twitter. The reactions ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s Current Challenge of the Bretton Woods Institutions Has Been Years in the Making

File image of the Beijing headquarters of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, one of several multilateral development banks set up by China in recent years. Image via Xinhua.
China’s dispute with the Bretton Woods institutions dates back to at least the Obama era. The U.S. Congress refused to ratify a 2010 plan to recapitalize the IMF, which would have given large emerging economies ...
by Cobus van Staden

Lekki Port Points to New Chinese Infrastructure Model in Africa

The recently opened Port of Lekki in Nigeria is now West Africa's largest and most sophisticated port facility that is also partially owned by the China Harbor Engineering Company. PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP
As China struggles with the fallout from infrastructure lending, it’s also trying out new ways of financing projects. A fascinating new paper by the prominent Africa-China expert Hong Zhang details a shift from ...
by Cobus van Staden

Yellen Defends Bretton Woods Institutions Against Challenge From China, Accused Beijing of Acting as “Roadblock” in Zambia

U.S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticized China's slow pace of debt relief in countries like Zambia during a conference hosted last week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Image via CSIS.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen forcefully defended the primacy of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) in response to China’s demand that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund also take losses on their loans ...
by Eric Olander

Cambodia PM: If We Don’t Rely on China for Development Assistance, Then Who?

Former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a three-day visit to Beijing in February 2023. Image via Xinhua.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen wrapped up a three-day visit to Beijing on Friday that included meetings with his counterpart Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping. The Cambodian leader went to Beijing with a big ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Scholar on Why Railway Financing Makes Sense for Beijing, Despite Criticism

File image of Indonesia's high speed railway that was built and financed by China. TIMUR MATAHARI / AFP
Chinese-financed railways in Asia and Africa have sparked enormous controversies over whether it was wise for countries like Kenya, Indonesia, Nigeria and Laos to put themselves in so much debt for infrastructure that ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: First Shipment of Australian Coal in Two Years Will Soon Be Offloaded in China

File image of coal shipments being prepped for export from Australia's Newscastle port, the world's largest coal exporting port. Saeed KHAN / AFP
The first shipment of Australian coal in two years will soon be offloaded in China, offering evidence that trade ties between the two countries are thawing. The shipment is anchored off the Chinese port ...
by Eric Olander

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

China-Led Study Proposes Global Energy Network

A globally connected network of solar and wind energy could provide three times the global energy demand by 2050 at a lower cost than independent national power systems. This is the finding of a study led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in collaboration with researchers from the United States and Denmark.
The study focused on how areas with high solar and wind capacity (such as deserts) can be linked ...

Chinese Search and Rescue Teams Now on the Ground in Turkey with Dozens More on the Way

Frantic rescue efforts are underway in Türkiye
An 82-person Chinese search and rescue team is on the ground in earthquake-hit Türkiye after arriving at Adana airport on Wednesday. The team brought 20 tons of medical supplies, rescue equipment, and four sniffer dogs. ...
by Cobus van Staden

What U.S. Policymakers Should Know About Chinese Basing Ambitions in Africa

File image of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy base in Djibouti. STR / AFP
U.S. military commanders regularly raise concerns about a possible second Chinese military base in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, despite rumors about possible footholds in countries like Equatorial Guinea, China’s strategic interest in Africa is relatively low, especially when ...
by Cobus van Staden

“We’re Not Competing With China” in Africa Says Linda Thomas-Greenfield

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations speaking with CNN anchor Abby Phillip at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. Image via the Atlantic Council.
The United States’s people-to-people ties in Africa make it impervious to Chinese competition, said U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, in an interview with CNN. It’s interesting to compare it with remarks by her ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Leverages African Media Outlets to Hit Back on Debt

Article written by China's official Xinhua news agency published on Wednesday in the privately-owned Independent newspaper in Uganda.
Emerging Chinese government messaging on debt is now showing up in African publications via state-owned media outlets like Xinhua. This comes as Beijing is increasingly focusing on the role of Western lenders in ...
by Cobus van Staden

New Copper/Cobalt Trade Corridors Take Shape to Serve as Alternative to South Africa

A map of the recently-agreed three-country logistic corridor
Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola will set up an agency to manage a logistics corridor linking them to Angola’s Lobito port. The move comes as South Africa’s Durban port has faced repeated ...
by Cobus van Staden

Hunan Province Launches New China-Africa Digital Services Hub

China's central Hunan province has been among the most ambitious in launching new services and facilities to promote trade with African countries. Image via Xinhua.
China’s Hunan province has set up a digital logistics hub supporting Chinese companies’ trade with Africa. It’s focused on cross-border communications support and data-sharing between Chinese companies working in Africa.  WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Hunan is ...
by Cobus van Staden

Paris Club Calls Out China Over Sri Lankan Debt Relief

The Paris Club of wealthy creditor states turned up the pressure on China to resolve the current impasse that’s blocking debt relief for Sri Lanka and other developing countries. “The Paris Club members as well ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Tourist Flight Given Hero’s Welcome in Cambodia

Image via Xinhua.
In a sign of how eager Southeast Asian countries are to welcome back Chinese visitors, the first flight from China since outbound travel resumed was given a ceremonial welcome when it landed on ...
by Eric Olander

Africa is Now a VERY Popular Destination For Western Ministers and High-Ranking Diplomats

TWEET TRANSLATION: #Niger @CZacharopoulou with counterparts 🇪🇺 at the photovoltaic power plant of Gorou Banda. Supported by 🇪🇺 & @AFD_France it will soon supply nearly 500,000 homes. The 🇫🇷 and 🇪🇺 alongside the 🇳🇪 to improve access to electricity, including for small businesses.
For years, China was largely alone in regularly dispatching its foreign ministers and high-ranking diplomats to tour Africa. That is no longer the case as U.S., European and Russian diplomats are fanning out across ...
by Eric Olander

South Africa Turned Down Invitation for Join Naval Exercises With U.S., Choosing Russia and China Instead

File image of a Chinese warship docked in Cape Town that took part in the 2018 first Operation Mosi naval exercises with the South African and Russian navies. Image via Xinhua.
South Africa is apparently not interested in conducting joint naval exercises with the United States, opting instead to proceed with controversial exercises later this month with both Russia and China. U.S. Navy Rear ...
by Eric Olander

China Confirms It Has a Balloon Floating Somewhere Over Latin America

Selina Wang is a China-based correspondent for CNN.
China’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed Pentagon allegations that a second Chinese surveillance balloon is floating over Central and South America. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said the balloon is non-military and used for flight tests. She said it ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Updates 2022 Africa Trade Figures

File image of workers at the port of Qingdao in eastern China load vehicles aboard a cargo ship bound for Africa.
Chinese customs authorities are slowly releasing new trade data for individual African countries following its January announcement that trade with the continent rose by 14.5% to $276.8 billion. Country data is similarly higher than in 2021.
by Cobus van Staden

China’s High-Profile Envoy to the DR Congo to Leave This Week

Zhu Jing, China's high-profile envoy to the DR Congo will leave Kinshasa this week as part of a normal diplomatic rotation. Image via @AmbCHINEenRDC.
Zhu Jing, China’s outgoing ambassador, is making the rounds of Kinshasa to say goodbye before leaving the country later this week. He is vacating his post as part of a routine rotation. Zhu was a ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Contractor Completes 105km Railway Upgrade in Namibia

China Gezhouba Group Corp (CGGC) finished a 107.5km upgrade of a rail line between the Namibian harbor Walvis Bay and the central logistics hub of Arandis on time, despite materials shortages and COVID-related delays. The ...
by Cobus van Staden

African Ambassadors Tour Xinjiang to See “Happy Life of Local Residents”

Zhou Li is a Beijing-based Counsellor in the Information Department at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China’s use of diplomatic junkets to justify its anti-Uyghur measures in Xinjiang to the Global South are ratcheting up again. Ambassadors and other senior diplomats from Senegal, Benin, Mali, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda, Lesotho ...
by Cobus van Staden

Germany’s Finance Minister Singles Out China in Debt Relief Appeal for Ghana

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner met with Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Friday in Accra. Image via @GhanaPresidency.
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is the latest high-ranking Western official to pressure China to do more to help relieve the burgeoning debt crisis in a growing number of African countries. “I remind ...
by Eric Olander
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