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Putin and Xi Praise Ties, Hours After Trump Sworn In

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping praised their deepening cooperation in a video call on Tuesday, hours after Donald Trump's inauguration as United States president. The Republican has promised to take a hard line on Washington's adversaries since ...

China the Top Challenge in U.S. History, Top Diplomat Says

China presents the top challenge to the United States in all of its history, surpassing the Cold War, a top US official said Wednesday, as he urged Europe to get tougher on Beijing. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, a key ...

How Would a Trump Presidency Compete with China in the Global South?

By Lukas Fiala With Kamala Harris’ campaign gathering pace over the past week, the race for the U.S. presidency is now more open than just a couple of weeks ago. And yet, with the specter of Trump 2.0 looming over policy ...

Republican Lawmakers in the U.S. Propose Yet Another Strategy to Challenge China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Three Republican legislators in the United States feel enough isn't being done to counter China's Belt and Road Initiative and want the State Department to come up with yet another plan to blunt Beijing's "debt-trap diplomacy disguised as infrastructure development" in developing countries.

China’s “Malign Influence” in Global South Emerges as Key Theme in U.S. House Hearings

The new Republican leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives convened a pair of hearings on China Tuesday that laid out a lengthy list of concerns and grievances about Beijing's "malign influence" around the world. The inaugural hearing of the Select ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Plugging into African Agency

After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...

U.S. Conservatives Are Becoming Increasingly Concerned About China’s Engagement in Latin America and They’re Using the Same Rhetoric They Did About Africa

U.S. fears of China "taking over" countries and entrapping them in "debt traps" all while "corrupting political elites" should sound very familiar to African stakeholders who've heard for years identical concerns expressed about China's engagement in their region -- only this time, U.S. conservatives are focused on ...

IMF Chief Sounds Optimistic About the Prospect of New SDRs But Sidesteps U.S.-China Tensions That Are in the Way

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva echoed the growing optimism in some parts of Washington about the possibility of issuing new so-called Special Drawing Rights -- effectively a cash injection by the IMF to all of its members which would provide some badly-needed liquidity for the world's poorest countries.

Ramaphosa’s Latest Call For the IMF to Issue New Funds Likely to Become Snared in U.S.-China Dispute

Speaking in both his capacity as the outgoing chair of the African Union and the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa renewed his calls for urgent action by the International Monetary Fund to provide funds to developing countries by issuing new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).

Rival Factions in Washington Square Up For a New Fight Over IMF Special Drawing Rights

Early on in the COVID-19-induced financial crisis in Africa, finance ministers and other senior-level stakeholders across the continent called on the IMF to issue new so-called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) that would provide desperately-needed liquidity into their economies. When