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 ...
Tag: railway
Related Posts
Zambia Banks on China-Backed Rail Upgrade to Boost Mining Exports
Two great railroads nearly bisect the southern central belt of Africa, stretching from the Atlantic and Indian oceans respectively, poised to shuttle key metals from the mineral-rich center of the continent to markets abroad. For Zambia, the second-largest copper exporter in Africa, these railways represent the future ...
China, the U.S., and the Competition for Africa’s Strategic Resources
Southern Africa has become a focal point of geopolitical competition, with the U.S., China, and other global powers maneuvering for influence over key infrastructure projects and critical resources. The Lobito Corridor Project, a railway and logistics ...
Vietnam Parliament Approves $8 Billion Rail Link to China
By Alice Philipson and Lam Nguyen Vietnam's parliament on Wednesday approved plans for an $8 billion rail link from its largest northern port city to the border with China, boosting links between the two communist-ruled countries and making trade easier.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Wraps Up Low Key Africa Tour
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi ended a four-nation Africa tour on Thursday that included stops in Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad, and Nigeria. Other than a $255 million railway loan deal for Nigeria, there were very few other major announcements ...
Chinese Foreign Minister Pledges Military Aid for Africa
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday pledged Beijing's full support and military aid for the world's poorest continent as he wrapped up his Africa tour in Nigeria. Wang began an Africa tour on January 6, visiting Namibia, the Republic of ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
No, the Lobito Corridor is NOT a U.S. Project
U.S. President Joe Biden finally made his long-postponed trip to Angola, fulfilling his December 2022 promise to visit Africa. When the promise was initially made, there were expectations of a more substantial visit—perhaps including multiple countries—not just a single stop as a “lame duck.”
In Angola, Biden Promises to Invest Differently to China
President Joe Biden will make the case on Wednesday in Angola that the United States must do better rather than more than China to regain influence in Africa. Biden is on the second day of a visit to the African country, ...
[WEEK IN REVIEW] China’s Role in Africa’s Energy Transition and Biden’s Angola Trip
The Sirexe “Salon International des Ressources Extractives et Energetiques” conference took place this week in the Ivory Coast and brought together ministers, policymakers and corporate leaders from across the continent to discuss Africa's energy transition. ...
Angola’s Big Bet on Biden Now Risks Backfiring
Pity poor Angola. President João Lourenço placed a multimillion-dollar bet on hiring expensive Washington, D.C. lobbying firms to put his southern African country on the U.S. agenda. Whatever they did worked because, over the past several years, Angola seemingly became the ...
With an Eye on China, Angola Becomes Key Partner for U.S. Ambitions for Africa
By Bronwen Roberts Joe Biden's choice of Angola as his first trip to Africa as president underscores the oil-rich country's influence as the focus of one of the biggest U.S. infrastructure projects on the continent, countering China's investments. ...
Railroads and Rivalries in Southern Africa
The U.S. and China plan to spend billions of dollars refurbishing key railway lines in southern Africa that link critical resource mining hubs in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with ports on both sides of the continent.
Key Pledges on Sidelines of China-Africa Summit
African leaders secured a wide range of commitments to enhance cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade, and energy sectors at China's largest summit in years. Bilateral meetings this week in Beijing on the sidelines of the Africa-China forum have resulted in ...