Live Feed

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

Beware of the Simple Media Narratives Warns China Scholar About Xi Visit to the Mideast

Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Jonathan Fulton has some advice for journalists covering Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia: don’t fall for the simple narrative that this trip is about some kind of Great ...
by Eric Olander

With Xi Jinping Back on the Road, Ryan Hass Reflects on Where Chinese Diplomacy Goes From Here

Now that China is beginning to relax its draconian Zero COVID policies and President Xi Jinping has emerged from three years of diplomatic hibernation, Ryan Hass, a top China scholar at the Brookings ...
by Eric Olander

The China-Arab Summit: Arab Press Highlights the Need for Economic Partnerships and Political Alliances

Arab and regional press widely focused on the China-Arab summit scheduled this week in Saudi Arabia, highlighting its importance as a “turning point in the history of Sino-Arab relations.” Several writers shared their ...
by Nesrine Kamal

Chinese-Built Cross-Frontier Hydro System Inaugurated in Mali

Images of the recent inauguration ceremony of the Gouina Hydroelectric Dam, via Afro-Impact
This weekend saw the inauguration of the Gouina Hydroelectric dam and Malinguina hydropower station in Mali. Funded by the China Exim Bank and built by PowerChina, the facilities form ...
by Cobus van Staden

African Leaders Commemorate Jiang Zemin

African officials signing statements of condolence marking the passing of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, via Twitter
African heads of state, ministers, and other high-ranking officials from countries as far afield as Equatorial Guinea and Burundi visited Chinese embassies and missions ...
by Cobus van Staden

What’s at Play in Xi Jinping’s Upcoming Visit to Saudi Arabia?

File image of Chinese President Xi Jinping, via AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping will reportedly travel to Saudi Arabia this week for a state meeting and to attend the inaugural China-Arab Summit. This is a particularly important visit as Xi returns to ...
by Cobus van Staden

Why the Persian Gulf is China’s “New Africa”

Source: Janes IntelTrack via Financial Times
Fifteen years ago, Africa supplied a third of China’s imported oil and was a key recipient of foreign investment beyond its near abroad in east Asia. Today, a large portion of that energy ...
by Eric Olander

U.S. Officials Are Working Hard to Keep China Off the Agenda of Next Week’s Africa Leaders Summit

Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy.
The White House is working hard to make sure that China does not become a topic of conversation at next week’s U.S.-Africa leaders summit that will take place in Washington, D.C. “Our goal ...
by Eric Olander

China Playing “Aggressive Game” in Africa and the World, Says U.S. Trade Rep Katherine Tai

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai spoke with Rama Yade of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center about China's trading practices in Africa. Image via The Atlantic Council.
The top U.S. trade official, Katherine Tai, acknowledged that Washington is increasingly facing difficulties in Africa and other regions because China, not the U.S., is most countries’ largest trading partner.
by Eric Olander

Partially Chinese-Financed Hydropower Dam Cuts Power Deliveries to Zambia, Zimbabwe Due to Lack of Water

The Chinese-financed/built Kariba Dam will cut power deliveries to both Zambia and Zimbabwe due to receding water levels.
Environmentalists have warned for years that southern Africa’s Chinese-financed hydroelectric building binge would eventually collide with the reality that the region doesn’t have enough water. Officials at the Zambezi River Authority ...
by Eric Olander

Buhari Lays Cornerstone For Chinese-financed ECOWAS Headquarters in Nigeria

Nigeria President Mohammadu Buhari commissioned the new Chinese-financed and built headquarters for the West African regional organization ECOWAS. Image
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari led a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Chinese-financed headquarters of the West African regional organization ECOWAS. The new $32 million facility will be entirely paid for by ...
by Eric Olander

With Apple Reducing Its Manufacturing Dependence on China, Why is So Much Going to Asia and So Little to Latin America?

File image of a Taiwan-owned manufacturing facility for Apple located 60km outside of Bangalore, India. Manjunath Kiran / AFP
Apple is reportedly moving faster to relocate more of its production to countries outside China and reduce its longtime dependence on Taiwan-based contract manufacturing giant Foxconn. Eventually, the Cupertino-based electronics ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Saudi Arabia to Mark Chinese President Xi Jinping’s State Visit Next Week With a China-Arab Summit

China's President Xi Jinping attends the closing ceremony of the 20th Chinese Communist Party's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 22, 2022. Noel CELIS / AFP
Saudi Arabia will mark Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit from 7 to 9 December with a China-Arab summit, according to Saudi diplomats. Invitations to Middle Eastern and North African leaders have reportedly already ...
by Eric Olander

Xi’s Third Term Will Power Up Chinese Messaging in Africa

China's President Xi Jinping attends the closing ceremony of the 20th Chinese Communist Party's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 22, 2022. Noel CELIS / AFP
Xi Jinping’s third term will likely see the re-energizing and reshaping of China’s external relationships after its COVID lockdown. But how will China’s political engagement with Africa evolve?  In a ...
by Cobus van Staden

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 ...

Zambia Hopes for Debt Deal by Q1 Next Year

File image of Zambian Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane discussing the country's national budget at the Zambian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Image via the Zambian Finance Ministry.
The International Monetary Fund’s head of strategy, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, will travel to Beijing next week for meetings with Chinese officials as part of a push for progress on Zambia’s debt restructuring.  ...
by Cobus van Staden

Djibouti Has a Very Specific Debt Problem…

Source: World Bank data and Thierry Pairault, Emeritus Research Director at France’s National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) and at the EHESS Research Centre on Modern and Contemporary China (CECMC)
Djibouti this week reportedly suspended debt repayments to its two major creditors, China and Kuwait, due to a major increase in debt servicing costs likely caused by interest rate hikes and ...
by Cobus van Staden

China’s COVID Chaos Bites South African Trade

Workers and security personnel wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) guard the entrance to a residential area under lockdown due to Covid-19 coronavirus restrictions in Beijing on November 29, 2022. Noel CELIS / AFP
China’s COVID-related shutdowns and protests are hitting South African businesses. The Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) said the disruptions compounded earlier delays on the SA side.  “China is responsible ...
by Cobus van Staden

Hunan Throws an Africa-China Fruit Trade Matchmaking Party

China’s Hunan province cemented its role as a hub for African agricultural trade via a recent matchmaking meeting to team up major Chinese fruit buyers with key African producers like South Africa and ...
by Cobus van Staden

Djibouti Suspends Debt Payments While Rwanda Gets (Just a Little) Relief From China

File image of Djibouti's Doraleh Container Terminal which is partially owned and operated by the state-owned China Merchants Group. Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP
🇩🇯 DJIBOUTI: The government reportedly suspended debt repayments to two of its largest creditors, likely China and Kuwait, in response to a dramatic increase in the country’s debt servicing costs in 2022, according ...
by Eric Olander

Pentagon: China to Expand Security Presence in Belt and Road Countries

The United States military is forecasting an expansion of China’s security presence around the world, particularly in Belt and Road countries, to better protect its people and interests abroad. The ...
by Eric Olander

EU’s Answer to China’s BRI Takes Shape in Africa

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen greets African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki at EU headquarters in Brussels on November 28, 2022. Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP
The European Union unveiled a $776 million infrastructure financing package for Africa on Tuesday as part of its Global Gateway initiative that is aimed at challenging China’s growing influence in developing ...
by Eric Olander

New Data Reveals Apple is Steadily Shifting Its Supply Chain Out of China to Other Countries in Asia

Nicholas Kamm / AFP
China’s once-dominant role in Apple’s supply chain appears to be ending as the technology giant relocates more and more of its production to other countries in Asia, particularly Vietnam and India. Since 2019, ...
by Eric Olander

China’s Special Representative for Latin America Wraps Up Five-Nation Tour

Qiu Xiaoqi, China's Special Representative for Latin America, completed a five-nation tour last week with stops in Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia. Images via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
High-level Chinese visits to Central and South America have become rare in recent years, so it was notable when Beijing’s special representative for the region embarked on a five-nation tour to 
by Eric Olander

How the Chinese Protests Are Being Discussed in South Africa

Thembisa Fakude, a senior research fellow and director at Africa Asia Dialogues in Johannesburg, discussed the protests in China on the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
Coverage of the ongoing protests in China has been relatively muted in major African media markets like Kenya and Nigeria. Most outlets only covered the protests sporadically and mostly relied on Western news ...
by Cobus van Staden

Arab Media’s Cautious Coverage of the China COVID Protests

Presenter on the privately-owned Egyptian television network Sada Al-Balad discussing the anti-government protests in China.
A number of news outlets across the Arab world acknowledged the ongoing protests in major Chinese cities, a somewhat surprising development given the sensitivities in these countries about large-scale anti-government demonstrations. Most of ...
by Nesrine Kamal

FACT CHECK: No, Kenya’s Lamu and Mombasa Are Not Being Targeted by the Chinese Military

The prominent Kenyan daily The Standard this week published a breathless front-page story claiming that the U.S. government says it is concerned that China wants to leverage the Kenyan ports of ...
by Cobus van Staden

Chinese World Cup Broadcast Doesn’t Show Maskless Crowds

The Chinese broadcast on the left doesn't show any crowd shots whereas the main international feed on the right shows plenty of maskless fan shots.
When Chinese football fans turned on their TVs to watch World Cup matches from Qatar, there was a sense of disbelief over how tens of thousands of maskless fans were all packed together in ...
by Eric Olander

New Research Reveals China’s Overseas Investment Priorities: Asia is Tops, Africa is “Basically a Rounding Error”

Source: China’s Ministry of Commerce, the National Bureau of Statistics, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange
New research reveals fascinating patterns in Chinese overseas foreign direct investment in the nearly twenty-year period from 2003 to 2021. Not surprisingly, Asia has been the preferred destination, followed by Latin America, most ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Beijing Considering Hosting a Third Belt & Road Forum Next Year

China's President Xi Jinping arrives for the G20 leaders' summit in Nusa Dua, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on November 15, 2022. Mast IRHAM / POOL / AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Beijing is considering hosting a third Belt & Road forum next year, the first time a major BRI event would be convened in China since the beginning of ...
by Eric Olander

Thailand’s Chinese-financed High Speed Railway Gets Boost After Xi Visit to Bangkok

Deng Xijun is China's ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN.)
The long-delayed 609-kilometer China-Thailand high-speed standard gauge railway is once again a top priority for both sides following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Thailand last week, where the project topped the agenda ...
by Eric Olander
Page 94 of 1971…939495…197

Most Read

1
Developing Countries’ Debt Servicing Costs to China Are Significant, but Nowhere Near as Much as Other Creditors
2 Chinese Military Fans Discuss Why Indonesia Bought Rafale Instead of J-10C
3
Indonesia Begins $5.9 Billion Chinese EV Battery Project Despite Environment Fears
4
Chinese Cargo Planes Secretly Ferrying Supplies to Iran, Claim Online Sleuths
5
Indonesia Goes Nuclear, Taps China and Russia for Modular Reactors
6
China, U.S. Ink Rare Earth Deal; More Trade Pacts Coming

CGSP Intelligence

Special Report

Indonesia’s China-Backed Nickel-to-Battery Ambition

Special Report

Data Tool

Track cobalt mining and processing in the DRC

Data Tool

Data Tool

The CGSP China-Africa Energy Tracker : trace Chinese energy projects by type

Data Tool

Introducing CGSP Intelligence

CGSP Intelligence gives you the information advantage on Chinese activities in the Global South. CGSP Intelligence is launching in Summer 2025, with analysis and a full set of data tools designed for corporate and enterprise leaders.