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

Some 40 Countries Want to Join the BRICS Group, But Not Mexico, Says President

File image of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador who said he has no plans to join the queue to become a member of the BRICS group. CLAUDIO CRUZ / AFP
Applying to join the BRICS club has become increasingly fashionable among developing countries, with 40 states expressing interest in becoming a member of the China-initiated club — but not Mexico. President Andrés Manuel ...
by Eric Olander

Explosive Exposes Detail Chinese Influence-Building in Global South

Members of the the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), at a protest in 2018. Exposes have focused attention on Chinese influence-building in the organization. Image: Mujahid Safodien / AFP
A large New York Times expose claims that Chinese government funding has infiltrated a coalition of progressive and left-wing movements to boost Chinese in the U.S. as well as in such Global South countries ...
by Cobus van Staden

Backgrounder: The Chinese-Owned TV Company Beaming Into Africa

Map via The Wire China
Researchers following Chinese media influence in Africa have long concentrated on StarTimes, a Chinese-owned satellite TV company rapidly expanding its influence across the continent. However, unlike Chinese state media outlets like CGTN, StarTimes ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Funded Many Coal Plants Around the World. Retiring Them Early Could Be a Bargain

Chinese funding for overseas coal capacity by country. The red bars indicate case study countries analyzed in the report. Image: Boston University Global Development Policy Center
China has funded about 39 GW of coal electricity around the world, particularly in South and Southeast Asia. If these plants continue operating until the end of their lifespans, they will breach 2040 ...
by Cobus van Staden

Translation: Why Some Chinese Men in Africa Prefer Not to Return Home

SEYLLOU DIALLO / AFP
The following article was published on Congo Daily (今日刚果), a WeChat channel for the Chinese expatriate community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The name or identity of the author is not known. What ...
by Han Zhen

China’s Use of a Water Canon Against Philippines Vessels Was Planned in Advance to Set an Example for Others, Says U.S. Analyst

Photos taken by the Philippines Coast Guard of a recent confrontation with the China Coast Guard in the South China Sea. Images via the Philippine Coast Guard.
The following is an excerpt from an article written by Ray Powell, director of the Project Myoushu at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, that tracks Chinese maritime activity in the ...
by Eric Olander

China Coast Guard: Philippines Hyping South China Sea Issue at the Behest of Its “American Father”

View from a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel of a confrontation with the Philippines Coast Guard (PCG) on August 5, 2023 that resulted in the CCG using a high-power water canon against various Philippines maritime vessels. Image via the China Coast Guard.
The China Coast Guard (CCG) published its side of the story in a post on WeChat on Sunday that blasted the Philippines for unnecessarily “hyping” what happened. It appears the tactic of the Philippine ...
by Han Zhen

China’s Foreign Ministry Signals Support for Niger’s Deposed President But Fails to Provide Any Specific Information

Exterior of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Beijing. Greg Baker/AFP
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs broke its silence regarding the recent coup in Niger. It issued a curt statement late last week that expressed support for deposed president Mohamed Bazoum but failed to ...
by Eric Olander

Japanese Minister’s Africa Tour Riles China as Tokyo Looks to Build Its Own EV Battery Metal Supply Chain

Japan's economy and industry minister Nishimura Yasutoshi. Image via NHK.
Japan’s Economy and Industry Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi arrived in Namibia on Sunday for the first leg of a five-nation Africa tour that focuses specifically on securing new supplies of critical resources needed to power electric ...
by Eric Olander

Global South Ambassadors Participate in State-led Xinjiang Junket and Didn’t “Find Any Human Rights Violations”

Dominica ambassador Martin Charles accused Western media of reporting lies about the human rights situation in XInjiang. Image via @ChinaDaily
Ambassadors from 25 developing countries completed a week-long junket to Xinjiang organized by the Chinese government and, according to Chinese state media, found “people in Xinjiang are enjoying a happy life.” The participants ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Japanese Foreign Minister Arrived in South Africa on Tuesday on Three-Nation African Tour

Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks during the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference with Japan at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta on July 13, 2023. BAGUS INDAHONO / POOL / AFP
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi arrived in South Africa on Tuesday for the first leg of a three-nation African tour that also includes stops in Uganda and Ethiopia. Hayashi’s visit is widely seen as part of ...
by Eric Olander

BRICS Enlargement Will Bring “Tectonic Change”: SA Ambassador

Anil Sooklal is South Africa’s ambassador to the BRICS group. Image via @BRICSza
Bolivia has become the newest country interested in joining the BRICS group. 22 countries have submitted formal requests to join, with another 20 informal expressions of interest in the pipeline.  Anil Sooklal, South Africa’s ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Tries To Rebut Reports That It Killed G20 Renewable Energy Commitment

A delegate arrives at the G20 climate talks in Chennai, India in late July. Image: R. Satish Badu / AFP
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs pushed back this week against reports that China helped to block a G20 measure to triple renewable energy capacity. The Ministry called the reports “completely inconsistent with the facts.” ...
by Cobus van Staden

Inside Details of China’s Oil Buys from Iran

Chinese President Xi Jinping with Iranian leader Ebrahim Raisi during the latter's visit to Beijing in February. Image: Iranian Presidency / AFP
Iran’s oil output has jumped by 80% to about 1 million barrels per day since President Ebrahim Raisi took power in 2021. China is one of the Islamic Republic’s largest oil buyers, despite ...
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 ...

10 Years and a Trillion Dollars Later, the BRI Turns Green

File image of a Chinese-financed and built solar power plant in the Central African Republic that is part of Beijing's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. Image via Xinhua.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) crossed a number of critical milestones in the first half of the year that seem to demonstrate President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy initiative is still going ...
by Eric Olander

U.S. Lawmakers Want to Sell More Stuff to Africa and Latin America to Counter China

Source: US Census Bureau, PRC General Administration of Customs, China-Africa Research Initiative, India Ministry of Commerce, IMF Direction of Trade Statistics • Note that India data is by financial (not calendar) year
Tucked away in a remote corner of the U.S. Senate’s version of the massive $875 billion proposed budget for the U.S. Defense Department is a small piece of legislation that aims to boost U.S. ...
by Eric Olander

EU’s Ursula von der Leyen Takes Aim at China During Philippines Visit, Pledges Maritime Security Assistance

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks at a business event in Fairmont Hotel, in Makati on July 31, 2023. ELOISA LOPEZ / POOL / AFP
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sharply criticized China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the South China Sea and vowed closer security cooperation with the Philippines. “We are concerned about the rising tensions in ...
by Eric Olander

Asia Society Task Force Urges U.S. to Focus More Attention on Southeast Asia to Compete With China

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a recent ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta on July 14, 2023. Dita Alangkara / POOL / AFP
A joint task force organized by the Asia Society, a New York-based research institution, published a new report with a number of pointed recommendations for U.S. policymakers to improve their engagement in Southeast ...
by Eric Olander

China and Pakistan Sign Deals to Expand Key BRI Cooperation

Pakistan's President Arif Alvi (2nd R) conferring the Hilal-i-Pakistan award on China's Vice Premier He Lifeng. Image: Pakistan Press Information Department / AFP
China and Pakistan signed a raft of new agreements aimed at moving forward their China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key Belt and Road Initiative project. China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and Pakistan’s Prime Minister ...
by Cobus van Staden

Backgrounder: How Does Niger’s Coup Affect China?

A frame-grab taken from the live announcement of the coup in Niger on July 26. Image: ORTN Télé Sahel / AFP
China says it is closely monitoring the situation in Niger following last week’s announcement that a military junta arrested the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and established a military government. The coup potentially ...
by Cobus van Staden

What Happened to Illegal Fishing Whistleblower Emmanuel Essien?

Emmanuel Essien has been missing since 2019. Image via GhanaWeb
The Ghanaian news outlet GhanaWeb recently published an investigative report about the purported disappearance of Emmanuel Essien, an official for the Ghanaian Fisheries Commission. He was reportedly last seen aboard a Chinese fishing vessel ...
by Cobus van Staden

China, Russia Eager to Expand the BRICS Group, Other Members Not So Much

WU HONG / POOL / AFP
Expanding the five-nation BRICS group is a popular topic of discussion among Global South policymakers, with at least 40 countries now interested in joining the group and twenty-two having already applied for membership. While ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Foreign Policy Viewed Decidely Negative in 24- Country Pew Survey

Source: Spring 2023 Global Attitudes Survey
Publics in two dozen countries around the world, mostly advanced economies in the Global North, are increasingly negative about China and its foreign policy, according to the findings of Pew Research Center’s annual ...
by Eric Olander

Analyst Handicaps Who’s in Contention to Become China’s Next Foreign Minister

China's newly appointed Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a meeting with his Turkish counterpart , in Ankara, on July 26, 2023. Wang Yi this week returns as China's foreign minister, stepping into a job he held for almost a decade in the face of the month-long absence of deposed diplomat Qin Gang. POOL / AFP
The “House of Cards”-style drama that’s unfolded in the Chinese Foreign Ministry over the past month is prompting intense speculation from China watchers in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere over who will ultimately become ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese State Media Responds to Australia’s Closer U.S Military With Threat of “Counterattack”

(L-R) Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attend a press conference at Queensland Government House in Brisbane on July 29, 2023. Pat Hoelscher / AFP
The Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece Global Times denounced Australia’s decision to significantly increase military cooperation with the United States with a threat of military countermeasures if Canberra is involved in a U.S. conflict ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Citizens in Niger Shelter in Place, Future of Key Energy Projects Now in Question

Supporters wave national flags as they rally in support of Niger's junta in front of the National Assembly in Niamey on July 30, 2023. AFP
The Chinese embassy in Niger called on its nationals in the country to shelter in place until the security situation stabilizes following last week’s military coup. So far, there have been no reports of ...
by Eric Olander

Ghanaian Winger Frank Acheampong Slaps Opponent in Chinese Super League Match in Response to Alleged Racial Insults

Ghanaian winger Frank Acheampong was sent off after reacting to alleged racial abuse during Shenzhen FC's 3-1 Chinese Super League defeat at Henan Jianye on Friday.
Ghanaian footballer Frank Acheampong apparently reached a breaking point on Friday when the Shenzhen FC winger slapped a member of the opposing team in response to alleged racial slurs. The 29-year was ejected ...
by Eric Olander

Rwanda’s New Chinese-Funded, Built Hydropower Plant Progresses Amid Mounting Concerns Over Drought

The of the $214 million Nyabarongo II Multipurpose Project in Rwanda. Climate change effects will determine how effective it will be in the coming years.
A Chinese state-owned engineering and construction company successfully completed river closure last week marking the start of the main building phase of the $214 million Nyabarongo II Multipurpose Project in Rwanda. In the country’s ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

WEEK IN REVIEW: Algeria Formally Applied to Join BRICS Bloc and Pledged $1.5 Billion to New Development Bank

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was greeted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 18, 2023.
Algeria formally applied to join the BRICS bloc and pledged $1.5 billion to become a shareholder in the group’s New Development Bank. The offer came at the end of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s five-day visit to China on ...
by Eric Olander

Where Will China’s Next Naval Base Be? New Report Lays Out the Options

File image of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy base in Djibouti. STR / AFP
Amid worries in Washington about the expansion of China’s global military reach, a new report by AidData, a research lab at the College of William and Mary, identifies eight locations for possible future bases. ...
by Cobus van Staden
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