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

More Nuance Needed in Discussion About Xi’s Party Congress Speech and What It Signals About China’s Engagement in the Global South

A recent column by CGSP Editor-in-Chief Eric Olander that said Xi Jinping’s speech at the 20th Party Congress last Sunday pointed to a re-prioritization of Chinese foreign policy objectives focused primarily on competition ...
by Eric Olander

New Chinese Naval Escort Task Force Joins Multinational Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy 42nd escort task force joined multinational anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden. Image via the PLAN.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s 42nd naval escort taskforce began operations in the Gulf of Aden last Saturday as part of the 14-year-long multinational anti-piracy campaign off the coast of Somalia in the ...
by Eric Olander

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary Nominee Pushes Back Against Default Allegations

File image of Musalia Mudavadi, newly-elected Kenyan President William Ruto's nominee for Prime Cabinet Secretary. TONY KARUMBA / AFP
“We should not be a country that should walk into the defaulting mode,” says Musadia Mudavadi, a nominee to become Kenya’s new Cabinet Secretary. Mudavadi committed himself to meet Kenya’s ...
by Cobus van Staden

Global South Aids China’s Rise to Number 2 Global Car Exporter

Chart tracking the trends in Chinese automotive exports over the past ten years. Source: China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
China surpassed Germany to become the world’s second-largest car exporter, after Japan. New numbers from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that China moved up from the number three ...
by Cobus van Staden

Rail-Sea Lines Boost China-Africa Trade

Southwest China's Chengdu has launched the first-ever Chengdu-Europe-Africa rail-sea multimodal transport line. Image via CGTN.
Multimodal rail-sea lines are increasingly transforming China’s trade with Europe and Africa. This week a train laden with Chinese products departed Chengdu in China’s Sichuan province, bound for Casablanca in ...
by Cobus van Staden

Ghana’s Ex-President Calls for Africa-China Trade Development

Former Ghanaian president John Mahama recently outlined his priorities for how to handle relations with China if re-elected. Image via @JDMahama.
Ghana’s former President (and possible future election contender), John Dramani Mahama, called for Africa to close its trade gap with China and to move up the value chain, away from ...
by Cobus van Staden

Long Awaited Debt Restructuring Talks Between China and Sri Lanka Get Underway

Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe attends the 156th Sri Lanka Police Day celebrations in Colombo on September 3, 2022. Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe confirmed that after months of inaction, debt restructuring talks with China have finally begun.  The President said in a statement on Sunday that he personally spoke with Chinese Finance Minister ...
by Eric Olander

Indonesian President Joko Widodo Does Final Site Inspection of New Chinese-built High Speed Railway

Indonesian President Joko Widido during a site inspection of a new Chinese-built high speed railway.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo got his first look at Southeast Asia’s only high-speed railway that will cut travel times between Jakarta and Bandung from three hours to just 40 minutes. The 142km railway, now 90% ...
by Eric Olander

China Moving to Expand CCP’s Legal Influence Abroad, Says Report

“Xi Jinping: The Governance of China,” a selection of speeches by the Chinese leader. ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is moving to expand its legal influence overseas, both in pursuit of its own objectives and as part of a broader effort to blunt the impact of U.S. ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Mining Giant CMOC Bats Back Fresh Rumors Its TFM Cobalt Mine in the Congo Has Been Suspended

CMOC statement published on its WeChat account that refuted new allegations about a suspension of operations at its TFM mine in the DRC.
Chinese mining giant CMOC (previously known as China Molybdenum) denied new rumors that Congolese authorities had shut down operations at its massive TFM copper and cobalt mine in the southern DRC. “At present, TFM’s ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: A Massive Strike in South Africa Threatens to Cripple the Country’s Logistics Sector, Jeopardizing Vast Amounts of China-Bound Exports

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation (SONA) address at the opening of the parliament in Cape Town, South Africa, 10 February 2022. Nic BOTHMA / POOL / AFP
A massive strike is now underway in South Africa that threatens to cripple the country’s logistics sector, jeopardizing vast amounts of China-bound exports including strategic resources like cobalt. 76,000 workers at SA’s state-run port ...
by Eric Olander

Xi’s Agenda Troubled by Miscalculations: Top Singapore Diplomat 

One of Singapore's most prominent international affairs scholars, Ambassador Bilahari Kausikan, listed Xi Jinping's 'no limits' partnership with Russia as one of three critical Chinese foreign policy mistakes. Alexei Druzhinin / Sputnik / AFP
As strategic competition between China and the United States intensifies, Beijing enters its momentous 20th Party Congress (kicking off on Sunday) saddled with three big foreign policy mistakes.  So argues Singapore’s former top diplomat, ...
by Cobus van Staden

China Releases Climate Plan Focusing Heavily on Global South

AFP
China has released a new concept note  on climate cooperation in the runup to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (known as COP27) taking place in Egypt in November.  The document suggests areas ...
by Cobus van Staden

Morocco Buys Chinese Drones

Participants walk past a Chinese-made Wing Loong drone displayed during the Dubai Airshow in the United Arab Emirates. KARIM SAHIB / AFP
Morocco bought an unspecified number of Chinese-made Wing Loong II drones. The remote-controlled planes have both reconnaissance and strike capability and are an upgrade of the earlier Wing Loong drone. Morocco already owns ...
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 ...

Ethiopia Debuts New Chinese-Built Science Museum

The domed interior of the new Chinese-built science museum in Addis Ababa. The facility also features a research center and hosted a pan-African conference on artificial intelligence this week
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated a new Chinese-built museum of science in Addis Ababa last week. He said the museum “offers both the young and old a place to inquire, explore, innovate and ...
by Cobus van Staden

With Sales Slowing at Home, Chinese EV Giant BYD Looks to New Markets in the Global South

Electric SUVs are a key product line in BYD's international expansion. Image via AFP
September sales of New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in China increased at the slowest pace in five months, providing fresh hints that relentless COVID lockdowns and a slowing Chinese economy may ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Consumer Preferences Now Influencing Ford’s SUV Sales in Other Global South Markets

Chinese consumer preferences for styling and vehicle interiors are now influencing the models sold in Latin America and other regions in the new Ford Territory SUV crossover. Image via Ford Motor Company.
The new Ford Territory SUV crossover that will go on sale next year in Mexico will feature styling and interior features that were conceived for Chinese consumers. The Territory is the product of ...
by Eric Olander

Nigeria Awards Huawei Contract to Build Electronic Border Surveillance System

File image of Nigerian border crossing. Image via the Federal Governmnt of Nigeria.
Huawei will build a new satellite-based electronic monitoring system along sections of Nigeria’s 5,000-kilometer border in a bid to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and to provide early detection of security threats. ...
by Eric Olander

One of China’s Leading Mideast Scholars Expresses Sympathy For Iranian Protestors, Testing the Limits of What’s Acceptable in His Own Country

Fan Hongda is a Professor at the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University.
One of China’s most prominent Mideast scholars, Fan Hongda from the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University, is expressing solidarity with anti-government protestors in Iran on social media. At the ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese Battery Giant CATL Bets on the Future of Cobalt By Buying a Big Chunk of CMOC

Exterior of one of Chinese EV battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology office buildings.
Strong demand for electric vehicles around the world helped to triple profits at Chinese battery giant CATL, the world’s largest battery maker. The company is reporting that third-quarter profits for the year will ...
by Eric Olander

Chinese-Built Plant to Turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s Biggest Steel Producer

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa (middle, wearing a multicolored scarf) at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Dinson steelworks. Image via the Zimbabwe Chinese Network WeChat page.
A new Chinese-led plant could turn Zimbabwe into Africa’s largest producer of iron and steel. Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa led the groundbreaking ceremony of the new $1.5 billion project, led by Dinson Iron ...
by Cobus van Staden

Libya Blockbuster Leads China’s National Day Movie Releases

Movie poster for the hugely popular Chinese movie "Home Coming" which tells the story of the 2011 evacuation of Chinese personnel from Libya.
Home Coming led China’s National Day holiday box office bonanza, racking up $144 million in ticket sales during its first week of release. The holiday is usually marked with movies aimed ...
by Cobus van Staden

Xinjiang Human Rights Council Vote Prompts Spirited Debate in Asia Over Why Governments Backed China

The vote tally from last week's draft resolution A/HRC/51/L.6 on holding a debate on the situation of human rights in Xinjiang that did not pass.
The two Asian governments with the world’s largest Muslim populations, Indonesia and India, have been on the defensive in recent days for their vote last Thursday at the United Nations ...
by Eric Olander

After Months of Delay, China Finally Begins Debt Restructuring Talks With Sri Lanka

Brad Setser is a former U.S. Treasury Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe informed the country’s parliament late last week that China had finally agreed to begin long-desired debt restructuring talks. During a recent visit to Tokyo, President Wickremesinghe ...
by Eric Olander

Arab Barometer: Arab Publics Favorable Views of China Decline the More They Learn About Chinese Foreign Policy

Countries surveyed in the Arab Barometer public opinion poll on views towards the U.S. and China. Image via Arab Barometer.
Two of the lead researchers at Princeton University’s Arab Barometer public opinion survey project shared some additional insights about the findings from their 2021 poll on how people in the MENA region perceive ...
by Eric Olander

WEEK IN REVIEW: Zambian Is Preparing for the First Round of Talks With Creditors on How to Restructure Its $14.87 Billion Debt

The President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, speaks at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town on May 9, 2022. RODGER BOSCH / AFP
Zambian Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said his ministry is preparing for the first round of talks with creditors on how to restructure the country’s $14.87 billion debt.  During a public meeting on Monday, Musokotwane refused to ...
by Eric Olander

One of China’s Largest BRI Builders Faces Economic Headwinds at Home

Exterior of the China Communications Construction Corporation building in Beijing, China.
Business is booming for the China Communications Construction Company. It is one of the world’s largest construction companies and built many of China’s iconic BRI projects, including the controversial Port of Hambantota in ...
by Eric Olander

African Consumers Still Want Huawei Smartphones Even Without Google’s Services

South African telecom operator Telkom's best-selling high-end smartphone brands in 2021.
When Huawei was added to the U.S. entities list in August 2020 that blocked the Chinese telecom giant from using American technology on its smartphones, most notably Google’s Android operating system, 
by Eric Olander

Don’t Be Misled by All the Headlines About Apple Shifting Its Manufacturing out of China

File image of workers at a Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China assembling Apple computers. STR / AFP
Throughout much of 2022, Apple has been diversifying its manufacturing operations in Asia beyond China. India and Vietnam, in particular, appear to be the primary beneficiaries. This year alone, in fact, 
by Eric Olander

China and India’s Bumpy Road to An “Asian Century”

HEADLINE TRANSLATION: Zhou Bo: China is not a newcomer to the Indian Ocean, India needs to adapt to China's "South Asian presence"
China and India must find ways of tolerating each other’s military rise to ensure the dawn of an “Asian Century.”  So argued Zhou Bo, a former official in China’s Ministry of Defense and ...
by Cobus van Staden
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