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Thailand Suspends Prison Boss Over Alleged Privileges for Chinese Inmates

Thai authorities have suspended a prison chief in Bangkok over allegations that high-profile Chinese inmates were granted access to women in a private cell and other privileges, the justice ministry said. The scandal erupted last week after local media reported two ...

Debate: Is China a Helpful or Horrible Trade Partner for Global South Countries?

At last week's Munich Security Conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi touted his country's 5% economic growth last year as a "benefit to the world" thanks to all of the trade it does with countries around the world. ...

Chinese Companies Engage in Massive “Forest Looting” in the DR Congo

Two Chinese logging companies are now the largest timber harvesters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with concessions sized at more than 3 million hectares. The firms, Wan Peng and Booming Green, are engaged in industrial-scale logging to export raw ...

Guarding West Africa’s Forests: Exploring Ways to Put an End to Illegal Chinese Timber Trade

Together, the United States and China import $40 billion worth of timber products each year, quite a bit of which is harvested illegally from West Africa's rapidly shrinking forests. But cracking down on this illicit trade is extremely difficult given that ...

Lack of Political Will in Ghana Fuels Illegal Rosewood Logging, Smuggling to China

Such is the desire for rosewood that it’s the world’s most trafficked wild product —more than ivory, rhino horn, and pangolin scales combined.

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

2026: Africa-China Relations in a World Shaped by North-South Geopolitics

When talking about Africa–China relations, one is always moving along a sliding scale. There are myriad interactions with Chinese entities that concern only individual African countries, segueing into trends affecting the whole continent and sliding further into global dynamics shaping the developing world, of which Africa is the heart.

The Africa-China relationship is its own thing, but Africa’s fate can’t easily be separated from factors affecting the wider Global South, ...

Q&A: How Will Tshisekedi’s Re-Election Impact Chinese Mining Interests in the DR Congo?

The incumbent Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi won a landslide re-election at the end of last year that was validated this week by the country's Constitutional Court despite accusations of voting irregularities by both opposition parties and foreign election observers. Also this ...

Chinese ‘Illegal Mining Queen’ Jailed in Ghana

Aisha Huang -- a Chinese national with the notorious nickname "Galamsey Queen" -- is now sitting in a Ghanaian prison cell after she was sentenced this week by the High Court in Accra for running a massive illegal mining operation.

Africa at the Intersection of Three Megatrends: China, Climate and Debt

Dramatic scenes this week in Italy where 7,000 people, mostly from Africa, came ashore after making the dangerous trek across the Mediterranean. It was a similar situation along the U.S.-Mexico border where 9,000 people crossed in a single day.

China’s Indispensable Role in Africa’s Railway Renaissance

Over the past 20 years, tens of thousands of kilometers of new railway lines have been built across Africa - much of it constructed and financed by China. But the days when Beijing paid big bucks to build these kinds of ...

What a Railway in Kenya Reveals About How China Builds Things in Africa

The Kenyan government's controversial decision to end certain subsidies and raise taxes sparked days of violent protests in Nairobi. While the move sparked a massive backlash, President William Ruto nonetheless clearly felt he had no other choice if he wanted to ...

Rotimi Amaechi Opponents Double Down on China Smears

Opponents of Nigerian Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi’s presidential run are using paid media content to paint him as too close to China. This is the newest attempt to link Amaechi with China, after the Chinese embassy in Abuja hit back at similar rumors last week. ...

Rampant Illegal Chinese Mining and Logging in Eastern DRC Drives Poverty and Empowers Ruling Elites, Says New Report

Illegal Chinese mining and timber companies are running rampant in the DRC's eastern province of South Kivu, fueling corruption that empowers ruling elites and impoverished local communities, according to a scathing new report by two researchers at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in ...
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