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

Chinese Company Targets South Africa With Renewable Energy Solutions Despite Difficulties Weaning off Coal

Dongguan-based Hinen Solar is the latest Chinese new energy company to enter the South African market in a bid to help remedy the country's worsening power woes. Image via Hinen.
China’s Hinen Group is expanding into South Africa with a promise to make renewable energy accessible and affordable for everyone, according to the company’s Country Manager, Andy Zhou Xiang Yang. Hinen Solar South Africa ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

WEEK IN REVIEW: United Nations Confirms India’s Population Will Surpass China’s This Week

The United Nations confirmed that India’s population will surpass that of China by the end of this week, hitting 1,425,775,850 people. This follows an earlier report from a different UN agency that predicted that India ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese-Funded, Constructed Dams Prioritized in Zimbabwe’s Irrigation and Energy Plan

The Gwayi-Shangani and Kunzvi dams that are among those in Zimbabwe's acceleration program.
Zimbabwe is accelerating the construction of 12 large dams to irrigate at least 350,000 hectares by 2025 and generate hydropower while also providing potable water. The acceleration plan is meant to increase land acreage ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

Groundbreaking for Confucius Institute in Central African Republic Just Weeks After Massacre of Chinese Miners

Wu Peng is China's most senior diplomat for sub-Saharan Africa. Image via @WUPENG_MFACHINA
An inauguration ceremony for a new Confucius Institute was held at Bangui University in the Central African Republic last week. It comes only a few weeks after nine Chinese mining personnel were killed ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese Companies Also Want to Limit Their Exposure to China Risk

File image of garment workers in Bangladesh. Image: Munir Uz Zaman / AFP
Western companies like Apple aren’t alone in trying to limit their exposure to China. Chinese companies are increasingly eyeing overseas expansion too. While some of these moves are due to cost factors like lower ...
by Cobus van Staden

How Chinese Demand for African Pangolins Worsens Security in Cameroon

A file image of an African pangolin in the wild. Guillem Sartorio / AFP
The African pangolin is a small mammal covered in hard scales. These scales are used in Chinese traditional medicine, fueling an illegal global trade that is driving these shy animals to extinction. Pangolins ...
by Cobus van Staden

Explainer: How ‘Modernization’ Became China’s Newest Talking Point

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang speaking at the Lanting Forum on Chinese Modernization in Shanghai on April 22, 2023. Image via Xinhua.
Qin Gang’s first press conference as Foreign Minister also saw the launch of a new Africa-focused talking point: Chinese modernization is different from and more inclusive than that of the West. Since then, Qin ...
by Cobus van Staden

Partnership With China Could See Egypt Lead Africa’s Satellite Climate Change Studies

File image of a Chinese Long March 2C rocket carrying the Egyptian Horus 2 satellite as it rises from the launch pad at Jiuquan spaceport on March 13, 2023. Image via Xinhua.
China is bearing the bulk of financing Egypt’s Horus Satellite program meant to boost Africa’s fight against climate change. Last month, Egypt’s space program launched another satellite, Horus-2, to help with monitoring climate change in ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

Africa’s Debt-fueled Infrastructure Binge Will Not Generate Economic Growth, Says Prominent Kenyan Scholar

File image of the Chinese-financed and built Nairobi Expressway in Kenya. Simon MAINA / AFP
Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia are among a number of African countries that borrowed billions of dollars over the past twenty years to build massive infrastructure projects that policymakers in those countries all thought ...
by Eric Olander

Hundreds of Chinese Evacuated From Sudan

Some of an estimated 400+ Chinese nationals who were evacuated from the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday and taken to the eastern of Port of Sudan.
More than 400 Chinese nationals were evacuated from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Tuesday and taken by bus to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that ...
by Eric Olander

Nigeria to Finance Major Pipeline After Chinese Funding Falls Through

The Nigerian government will pick up the tab to build the last portion of the 614-kilometer AKK natural gas pipeline that China had originally agreed to finance. In 2017, the Bank of China negotiated ...
by Eric Olander

TotalEnergies Signs Deal With Chinese Contractor for Controversial Africa Pipeline Work

A map showing the EACOP project from Hoima in the west of Uganda to Tanzania’s city of Tanga on the Indian Ocean coast.
French energy giant TotalEnergies concluded a deal with China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering and East Africa Oil Pipeline operator EACOP to build the environmentally controversial pipeline in East Africa. The Chinese company will replace ...
by Eric Olander

Secret EU Document Reveals Big Plans for Key China Allies

Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping attend a signing ceremony following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. Mikhail TERESHCHENKO / SPUTNIK / AFP
Politico has obtained a confidential EU briefing outlining plans to regain influence in four “priority countries” deemed too close to China and Russia. In order to isolate China and drum up global support for ...
by Cobus van Staden

Guatemala Leans Into Its Support for “Republic of Taiwan”

Guatemalan President Alejandro Eduardo Giammatei Falla with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (L) at a welcoming ceremony in Taipei. Image: Sam Yeh / AFP
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei pledged his country’s unconditional support for what he repeatedly called ‘the Republic of Taiwan.’ He is on a trip to Taipei following a visit by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to Guatemala ...
by Cobus van Staden

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 ...

Problems Arise Just Hours After Qin Gang Wrapped Up a Diplomatic Repair Mission to the Philippines

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (R) listens to Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang (L) during a visit to Malacanang Palace in Manila. Handout / Presidential Communications Office (PCO) / AFP
A tense stand-off played out on Sunday in disputed waters off the Philippines when a pair of coast guard vessels were closely followed by a Chinese Coast Guard ship and other unidentified vessels that ...
by Eric Olander

Taiwan, Not South China Sea is the Real Reason Behind the Expanding U.S. Military Presence in the Philippines, Says Prominent Chinese Analyst

File image of Liu Heping, chief current affairs commentator for national broadcaster Shenzhen Satellite TV and one of China's most prominent international news analysts.
This month’s massive 17,000-strong joint U.S.-Philippines military exercises code-named Balikatan (Tagalog for “shoulder-to-shoulder”) focused a lot of attention on drills in the South China/West Philippine Sea. The U.S. has deployed considerable military force ...
by Eric Olander

China Still Keen to Join Pan-Pacific Trade Pact and Expects All 11 Members to Support Its Bid, Says Vice Minister

File image of China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen who is also Beijing's lead negotiator for admission to the pan-Pacific trade pact known as CPTPP. Greg Baker / AFP
One of China’s top trade negotiators said Beijing is still committed to joining the pan-Pacific trade pact known as CPTPP (formerly known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership) even though the odds of admission in ...
by Eric Olander

Awards for Online Influencers From Global South Countries Who “Tell Good China Stories”

Inaugural awards ceremony for international online influencers who propagate pro-Chinese content to their followers. Image via China Daily.
Chinese propaganda authorities recognized seven online content influencers from various countries around the world, including Cameroon and Iran for their contributions to “presenting a true, panoramic view of China.” The awards were ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Chinese and Indian Oil Buyers Ignoring West’s Price Cap on Russian Crude

Chinese and Indian oil buyers are ignoring the West’s price cap on Russian crude, snapping up a majority of Moscow’s output at prices well above the $60 per barrel limit. The cap was imposed ...
by Eric Olander

Zambia’s Creditors to Reconvene in May, Amid Growing Global Debt Concern

A graph showing rising debt loads on key sub-Saharan economies. Image via Business Day
Bloomberg reports that Zambia’s official creditor committee, which is co-led by China, has reportedly made progress in meetings this week, which will lead to them reconvening for a follow-up session next month. The ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Newest Talking Point on Debt: The U.S. Dollar is to Blame

The image accompanying a recent op-ed in Global Times blaming the dominance of the U.S. dollar ofr African debt problems
As China faces increasing criticism around perceptions that it is holding up debt relief processes, its state media seems to be trying out new talking points in its messaging on the issue to Global ...
by Eric Olander

China-Gabon Relations Upgraded

Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba (middle left) meeting China's President Xi Jinping, image via Xinhua
China and Gabon’s relationship has been upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, the main takeaway from President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s state visit to Beijing. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? The elevation of the relationship to ...
by Eric Olander

Namibia Partners With Chinese Company to Build 50MW Wind Power Plant

NamPower Managing Director Kahenge Haulofu and Fang Xiang, general manager of China Energy International Group Co., Ltd. (Namibia), pose for a photo at a signing ceremony in Windhoek, Namibia, on April 17, 2023. Image via NamPower.
Namibia Power Corporation (NamPower) has signed power purchase and transmission connection agreements for the development of a 50MW wind power project in Lüderitz, southwestern Namibia. CERIM Lüderitz Energy, a joint venture between Riminii Investments ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

Chinese Company Targets Zimbabwe’s Solar Power Generation Amidst Crippling Blackouts

The Kariba Dam located between Zimbabwe and Zambia generates power for both countries. China Energy Engineering Corp. has propositioned Zimbabwe to build a floating solar plant on the largest man-made lake for renewable energy generation.
The China Energy Engineering Corp. has propositioned the Zimbabwean government for the construction of a 1,000-megawatt (MW) floating solar plant on the Kariba dam along the Zambezi River. At nearly $1 billion, the project will ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

China’s CMOC Reaches Breakthrough Contract Settlement Deal With DRC Over the TFM Cobalt Mine

The Chinese mining giant CMOC announced on Wednesday that it finalized a deal with the DR Congo’s state-run mining company Gécamines over royalty payments for the massive Tenke Fungurume (TFM) copper and cobalt mine. ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Offer to Mediate Israel-Palestinian Conflict Lacks Credibility, Say Analysts

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang sought to build on his recent success in mediating a settlement between Iran and Saudi Arabia by reaching out to the foreign ministers of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to offer to do the same. Suo Takekuma / POOL / AFP
This week’s offer by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang to facilitate peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was quickly dismissed as unrealistic by prominent scholars and analysts who closely follow the issue. ...
by Eric Olander

What the Israelis Really Want From China (Hint: It Has Nothing to do With the Palestinians)

Photo published on Twitter by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to publicize his phone call with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang. Image via @elicoh1.
There’s no indication in the Israeli national security community of a strong desire to call on China to help mediate the country’s long-running dispute with the Palestinians. After all, Israel is one of ...
by Eric Olander

Iran-China Trade Topped $15 Billion Last Year: Report

Two-way trade between China and Iran increased by 7% last year to $15.8 billion, according to new data by Chinese customs authorities. Iranian exports to China accounted for $6.35 billion, while imports from ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Embassy in Nigeria Refutes Times (UK) Story That Claimed “Beijing is Indirectly Funding Terrorism”

The Chinese embassy in Abuja denounced a report published last weekend in The Times (UK) newspaper that alleged Chinese companies are bribing militants for access to mineral reserves in northern Nigeria. The embassy said ...
by Eric Olander
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