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In Zimbabwe, China’s EV Mineral Hunt Sparks Both Hope and Unease

When Chinese battery materials giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt acquired the Arcadia Lithium Mine for $422 million in 2021, Zimbabwe saw an opportunity to claim its share in the global electric vehicle supply chain table. Located 38 kilometers east of Harare, the project was billed as a ...

Critical Mineral Resource Nationalism: What It Means for China and the Global South

Driven by the accelerating global energy transition, resource-rich countries are actively asserting greater control over their critical minerals—lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earths—through a policy shift known as resource nationalism. While the framing of resource nationalism came from global north countries that dislike policies by ...

China’s Export Restrictions on Rare Earths: What It Means for Producer Countries

U.S. policymakers and analysts have raised concerns about China’s recent export restrictions on heavy rare earth elements (REEs), warning that they could seriously disrupt the U.S. economy by cutting off access to materials essential for high-performance magnets, semiconductors and defense systems. While these restrictions will undoubtedly impact ...

What Trump’s Trade Policy Means for Africa, China, and the Future of Global Trade

When U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House, he wasted no time reviving his hardline trade stance. Among the 200 executive orders issued on his first day was the America First Trade Policy Memorandum, aimed at rebalancing global trade through sweeping import tariffs. ...

China’s Future Role in Zimbabwe Power Plant Uncertain Amid Debt Crisis

Zimbabwe's business community is sounding the alarm over the prospect that one of the country's largest sources of electricity could be shuttered due to its failure to repay debts to Chinese creditors. Zimbabwe power authorities have reportedly fallen behind in servicing ...

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 ...

Stymied in the West, Chinese EV Brands Look to Expand in Africa

Just over a million new vehicles were sold in Africa last year, a relatively small number given the continent's enormous population, estimated at 1.5 billion. Chinese auto brands are looking at that discrepancy and think it provides a unique opportunity for ...

China Isn’t the Solution to Africa’s Industrialization Dilemma

There is going to be a lot of talk at the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit that will take place in Beijing in early September about the need for African countries to move up the value supply chain. African ...

Developing Countries That Export Critical Resources Could be Collateral Damage in the U.S.-China Trade War

The $18 billion of Chinese products targeted by the U.S. for increased tariffs will not have a measurable impact on a trade relationship worth more than $600 billion annually. But that's not the case for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ...

China Writes Off Unspecified Amount of Zimbabwe’s Interest-Free Debt

China's ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhou Ding, announced that Beijing will cancel a very small portion of Harare's estimated $2.1 billion of outstanding debt to Chinese creditors. Zhou said on Wednesday that interest-free loans that matured at the end of 2015 ...

Zimbabwe Set to Launch Second Chinese-run Lithium Processing Plant

Final testing is now underway at a new Chinese-run lithium processing facility in eastern Zimbabwe, around 150km east of Harare. When fully operational, the new plant will be able to produce 300 tonnes a day of lithium concentrates that will be sent ...

Chinese EV Giant BYD Launches in Rwanda

BYD, the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer, is continuing its expansion in Africa when it launches soon in Rwanda. The company made the announcement on X last week but did not provide specific details as to when sales will begin and ...

Chinese Arms Arrive in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially received a consignment of weapons from China on Wednesday. The arms include armored fighting vehicles, personnel carriers, machine guns, and pistols. The weapons were handed over by China’s ambassador, Zhou Ding. While framing the consignment as a donation, Mnangagwa ...
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