Live Feed

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

NATO Communique Dials Up Tensions

Image via @XHNews
Chinese state media is responding strongly to a NATO communique released this week that characterizes China as a threat to the bloc’s interests. The communique, released during a two-day NATO summit in Lithuania, ...
by Cobus van Staden

The Solomon Islands’ Beijing Embassy Opens Amid Western Concern About Stronger China Ties

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Chinese Premier Li Qiang inspect an honor guard during the former's state visit earlier this week. Image: Andy Wong / AFP
The Solomon Islands officially opened its new embassy in Beijing this week, following the upgrading of their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership. These stronger ties include an agreement on police cooperation. This follows 
by Cobus van Staden

Is Ethiopia Planning a Joint Policing Center with China?

A blocked post on a WeChat group serving the Chinese Community in Ethiopia. It reads: "This content cannot be viewed because of policy violations. This content violates the Network Security Law of the People's Republic of China"
On Tuesday, the Chinese embassy to Ethiopia put out a press release outlining a meeting between Chen Zhiyuan, China’s Vice Minister of Public Security and the Ethiopian Federal Police Chief Commissioner General Demelash Gebre-Michael. ...
by Han Zhen

Chinese Expert Pours Cold Water on Ethiopia’s BRICS Dream

Who will get into BRICS next? A file image of an attendant standing behing BRICS flags at a gathering in 2017. Wu Hong / AFP
In June, Ethiopia joined about twenty other emerging economies in applying to join the BRICS group, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. As with South Africa’s late entry into the ...
by Cobus van Staden

Graph of the Day: China’s Real Share of African Debt

Amid the news that Zambia has moved towards the official start of negotiations with its private creditors, it is worthwhile remembering that China’s share of African debt is far outstripped by debt to ...
by Cobus van Staden

The Rare Occurrence When Latin American Diplomacy Was Center Stage in Both China and Taiwan

Paraguay’s president-elect Santiago Peña (top) arrived in Taiwan on the same day that Nicaraguan presidential adviser Laureano Ortega (bottom) Murillo met with China's top foreign policy official Wang Yi in Beijing.
It’s not often Latin America is the focus of attention on the same day in both China and Taiwan, as was the case on Tuesday when Paraguay’s president-elect Santiago Peña arrived in Taipei just ...
by Eric Olander

Report: Suspected Chinese State-Backed Disinformation Campaign Targeting Latin America Detected

Examples of the Twitter accounts created by suspected Chinese state-entities used to promote Chinese narratives in several Latin American countries.
Suspected Chinese state-backed entities launched a series of Twitter accounts to disseminate pro-China messaging to audiences in several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Costa Rica, Chile and Brazil, among others, according to the ...
by Eric Olander

China Doubled Investment in Critical Minerals Last Year, Says International Energy Agency

Source: International Energy Agency Critical Minerals Market Review 2023
China made some big moves last year to expand its already formidable presence in the critical minerals mining sector and diversify where it gets those resources that are so crucial to powering next ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Warships Dock in Gabon as Foreign Minister Holds Talks With Wang Yi in Beijing

The PLA Navy's 43rd Naval Escort Taskforce arrived in Libreville over the weekend for a four day visit while China's top diplomat Wang Yi met with his Gabonese counterpart Hermann Immongault in Beijing.
A trio of Chinese warships will wrap up a four-day port of call to the small West African country of Gabon on Wednesday, capping several days of high-profile between the two countries. While the ...
by Eric Olander

Small Fish Sizes in Ghana’s Waters Indicate Effects of Illegal Trawling by Chinese and Other Vessels

File image of a suspected illegal fishing vessel operating in the Gulf of Guinea where trawlers from China and other countries have decimated fish stocks in recent years. Image via U.S. Navy/Released Public Domain Mark 1.0
The latest policy from the Fisheries Commission in Ghana reveals that data from catch assessment surveys shows considerable levels of overfishing leading to a GDP decline from 1.5% in 2015 to 0.9% in 2019 ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

Graph of the Day: China’s Durian Boom Gives a Whiff of Its Economic Clout in Southeast Asia

Vietnamese exports of durian to China have increased tenfold in the last five months. Graph via VN Express
This week’s ASEAN Foreign Minister meetings will be shaped by the bloc’s complicated political relationship with China. However, that is only half the story. To fully appreciate the stakes of having to manage ...
by Cobus van Staden

Did China Intervene in a Pakistani Election? Controversy Reveals Beijing’s Economic Centrality

Pakistani and Chinese officials celebrating the recent 10-year anniversary of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Image via @PlanComPakistan
A revealing war of words has erupted between Pakistan’s current ruling party and its predecessor touching on China’s political influence. On the ten-year anniversary of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a massive Belt and Road ...
by Cobus van Staden

New Half-Billion Dollar Deal Aims to Position Angola’s Lobito Corridor as Main Gateway for Africa’s Critical Resources

The competition for access to critical metals used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries intensified with the announcement that Trafigura, a Singaporean-based commodity trading giant, is going to lead a consortium of European companies ...
by Eric Olander

The U.S. Helped Coordinate and Finance the New Lobito Corridor Deal

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and Angolan President João Lourenço launch the Lobito Railway corridor on 4 July 2023. Image via @amoshochstein
A Tweet by Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration’s lead on infrastructure initiatives in developing countries, was the only indication last week of any U.S. involvement in the deal to rebuild the Lobito corridor ...
by Eric Olander

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 ...

Chinese Mining Company Launches Africa’s First-Ever Lithium Processing Facility in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnanagagwa (center) sitting next to Chinese ambassador Zhou Ding at the opening ceremony for Prospect Lithium's new processing facility in Goromonzi. Image via Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe became the first country in Africa to process locally-mined lithium with the opening of a new Chinese-owned refining facility outside of the capital Harare. Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe, a unit of the Chinese ...
by Eric Olander

Timing of China’s New Germanium Export Restrictions Couldn’t Be Better for the DR Congo

China’s announcement this month that it would limit the export of two metals used to manufacture semiconductors and other defense technologies could provide a huge opportunity for DR Congo’s state-run mining company Gécamines which ...
by Eric Olander

Wagner Mercenaries Bail Out Chinese Miners Amid Uncertainty Over the Group’s Future in the Central African Republic

Wagner soliders pose with a group of Chinese nationals rescued by the Russian mercenary group in a remote southern viillage in the Central African Republic. Image via @zriboua.
A group of Russian mercenary soldiers part of the controversial Wagner Group reportedly came to the rescue last week of Chinese miners in the Central African Republic (CAR) who had come under attack ...
by Eric Olander

Indian FM Jaishankar Takes Veiled Swipe at China During Africa Tour

Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar together with his Tanzanian host Stergomena Tax during a visit to Dar es Salaam on July 8, 2023. Image via @DrSJaishankar.
India’s top diplomat S. Jaishankar issued a subtle yet direct criticism of China’s engagement in Africa during a recent tour of Zanzibar and Tanzania. “Unlike some other countries,” he told a meeting of ...
by Eric Olander

A Chinese-Backed Solar Project in Lesotho Highlights Beijing’s New “Small is Beautiful” Infrastructure Development Strategy in Africa

The launch of the Mafeteng Solar Power Plant in June 2023. Photo | Wu Peng | Twitter
Some 71 kilometers south of Lesotho’s capital Maseru, the new Mafeteng Solar Power Plant Project generates some 30MW of electricity that could easily power 30,000 homes running household appliances like a fridge, a TV, ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

WEEK IN REVIEW: Mutual Expulsions of Indian and Chinese Reporters Almost Complete

The mutual expulsions of Indian and Chinese reporters are now almost complete. The last Chinese journalist in India, a reporter for Xinhua, was expelled last week, leaving just one reporter from the Press Trust ...
by Eric Olander

China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo Kicks Off in Hunan

File image of a display at the 2021 China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo: Xinhua
The biggest annual event in Africa-China trade kicks off in Changsha, Hunan Province, on Thursday, running until July 2. The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo is notable for two key reasons. First, it ...
by Cobus van Staden

Sri Lanka Gets Relief from World Bank as FM Walks a Careful China Line

Ali Sabry, Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka meets with the Finance Minister of China Liu Kun in Beijing. Image via @alisabrypc
The World Bank announced $700 million in budgetary and welfare support to Sri Lanka on Thursday. The news comes as Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry met with China’s Finance Minister Liu Kun and Exim ...
by Cobus van Staden

Backgrounder: China’s Emerging Playbook in South Asia

Tourists taking pictures in front of Sri Lanka's Chinese-built Lotus Tower, a symbol of China's fraught but growing influence in smaller South Asian countries. Image: Ishara Kodikara / AFP
China’s outsized role in two key South Asian debt crises (Sri Lanka and Pakistan) and its fractious cross-border relationship with India have overshadowed a larger trend: Beijing is increasingly becoming an adept navigator of ...
by Cobus van Staden

Netanyahu Visit to China is Strategic Mistake, Says Former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief

Retired Israeli general and Executive Director of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Amos Yadlin attends a session at the Manama Dialogue security conference in the Bahraini capital on December 5, 2020. Mazen Mahdi / AFP
One of Israel’s most decorated former generals, Amos Yadlin, warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his planned visit to China is a strategic mistake that risks damaging the Jewish state’s far more important ...
by Eric Olander

Lots of Handshakes, Smiles and an Aircraft Carrier Framed Vietnam PM’s Visit to China

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and Chinese Premier Li Qiang applaud during a signing ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 26, 2023. GREG BAKER / POOL / AFP
Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính wrapped up a jam-packed three-day visit to China on Tuesday with a meeting with President Xi Jinping while a giant U.S. aircraft carrier was docked back home ...
by Eric Olander

Connecting the Dots: How China is Reshaping the Middle East Energy Economy and How the ME is Responding

A graph recently published by Bloomberg showing how China is leading the globe in renewable energy, only one part of China's complex role that also includes buying massive amounts of oil.
The CEO of the massive state oil company Saudi Aramco told an industry gathering this week that large oil buys from China and India are keeping oil fundamentals “sound” for the remainder of 2023, ...
by Cobus van Staden

China-Pakistan Cooperation on Weapons, Border Construction: Reports

A file image of a Pakistani soldier guarding the Line of Control, the de facto border separating India and Pakistan. Image: Mohammed Daud / AFP
Press outlets in India are reporting that Chinese entities are working with the Pakistani army to build infrastructure along the de facto India-Pakistan border (known as the Line of Control), which runs through ...
by Cobus van Staden

How Chinese Construction Giant Sinohydro Benefits From Sanctions and Power Shortages in Zimbabwe

A section of the Centragrid solar farm in Nyabira, 30 kilometers outside of Zimbabwe's capital Harare. The plant is generating 2MW which is fed to the national grid and it is scaling up to 25MW output by October this year. Photo / Centragrid
Sanctioned and isolated by the West, Zimbabwe’s economy has taken a beating for more than two decades, but in that period, some Chinese companies have stuck it out and ...
by Njenga Hakeenah

Investors Cautiously Optimistic About Zambia Debt Deal, But Still Wary About China’s Role

Investors welcomed the news of Zambia’s debt restructuring deal with a mini rally on Friday in the country’s dollar-denominated bonds. Government bonds from Ghana, Pakistan and Sri Lanka also saw similar bumps prompted ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Media Noticeably Quiet on Zambian Debt Deal

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: [Global Finance] Zambia reaches debt settlement agreement with official creditors
Most major financial news outlets in the U.S. and Europe featured prominent coverage of Friday’s landmark Zambian debt restructuring deal but the story was barely mentioned in China. The official state-run Xinhua news ...
by Eric Olander
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