CGSP Podcasts
Weekly discussions with key thought leaders about China’s engagement in Africa and the Global South.
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China’s Gradual but Growing Security Influence in Africa
China is steadily expanding its security presence in Africa through deeper military ties, weapons sales, and multinational deployments as UN Peacekeepers. In fact, China is now the largest arms supplier to Sub-Saharan Africa, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace ...
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Plugging-In Africa: Citi’s Ambitious EV Financing Future
The African electric vehicle (EV) market is projected to grow by 25 percent annually over the next five years. This means that stakeholders, including financiers, have to plan for this expansion if they are to benefit from the sector.
India-China Reset? Modi and Xi Test a Fragile Rapprochement
The reset between India and China appears to be holding. Nearly two weeks after President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin, five years of frigid ties between the two Asian ...
The Trump, Xi Foreign Policy Duel in Southeast Asia
Two sharply contrasting foreign policy visions emerged this week from China and the United States. In Beijing, President Xi Jinping outlined an agenda in talks with fellow BRICS leaders that directly challenged Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine, urging instead for stronger ...
Kenya Caught Uncomfortably Between the U.S. and China
The Kenyan government is under mounting pressure from the United States over its close ties with China. Influential lawmakers in Washington are furious over comments made by President William Ruto during a visit to Beijing earlier this year, where he said ...
A delivering ceremony is held at Independence Square, Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, July 4, 2023. (Photo: China News Service/Zhang Shuo)
Kazakhstan has long courted electric vehicle makers to localize passenger car production, hoping to follow in Uzbekistan’s footsteps. Yet the real breakthrough may come from a different direction. Chinese electric vehicle manufacturing giant BYD’s plan to start with buses—rather than cars—marks a subtle but strategic shift that reveals ...
SCO Preview: Modi Heads to China Amid U.S. Tariff Shock
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi left Northeast Asia this week, embarking on a two-stop trip that includes Japan and then China, where he will participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, which begins on Sunday. ...
China and the Middle East: The Future in Three Scenarios
China's rapidly expanding presence in the Middle East has sparked a mix of anxiety and excitement, depending on one's perspective. Washington regards Beijing's support of Iran and the Palestinian cause, among other things, as key threats to its strategic interests. While ...
Customer Feedback Shaping Spiro’s E-bike Design in Uganda
E-mobility solutions in African countries like Uganda are driven not only by Chinese EV technology but also by local innovations, which are creating solutions for everyday mobility challenges. It is often rare that you hear ...
Africa’s EV Trade Siege and What’s Blocking the Future
The electric vehicle (EV) sector in many African countries faces critical challenges, slowing down the adoption of electric mobility. Some of these challenges are intra-African trade barriers, which make it hard to do cross-border trade. ...
China Moves to Bolster Pakistan Ties Amid U.S. Rapprochement
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for a three-day visit, following a high-level stop in India earlier in the week, where he met both Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
‘If You Want to Get Rich, Build a Road.’ Testing China’s Theory in Africa
There's a Chinese proverb that says, “If you want to get rich, build a road first.” That philosophy has guided China's development strategy in Africa for much of the past 25 years, that's led to the construction of more than 100,000km ...
A Turbulent Week for China-Africa Media Narratives
Over the past week, sharply contrasting images of Chinese engagement in Africa surfaced online. Anger erupted on social media over the release of yet another violent video that shows Congolese soldiers brutally beating local miners purportedly at the behest of Chinese ...
China’s Happy With Its Iran Ties Just the Way They Are
There's been a lot of speculation in the aftermath of the brief U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran that Beijing would step in to bolster its longtime partners in Tehran. Rumors have been bouncing around that China will sell Iran advanced fighter jets ...
[WEEK IN REVIEW] China Invests in Angola to Secure Food Supply Chains
Chinese construction giant Sinohydro signed a $100 million deal with Angola to build out the country's agricultural infrastructure in a bid to boost grain production. While 60% of the output from this venture will be shipped to China, the rest will ...
China’s Belt and Road Shatters Expectations With Record Activity
For much of the past two years, we've been told to expect a slimmer, more austere Belt and Road under the new "Small Yet Beautiful" mantra. The days of Chinese mega deals across the Global South were over... or so we ...
China’s Vital, Yet Poorly Understood Role in Africa’s Energy Sector
After a two-to-three-year hiatus following the pandemic, Chinese money is once again flowing into the African energy sector. Billions of dollars in new investment and construction contracts for power facilities were registered in the first half of the year, particularly in ...
Why Vietnam Will Never Join a U.S. Coalition Against China
Listen in on many of the foreign policy discussions about Vietnam that take place at think tanks and government seminars in Washington, D.C., and you'll hear this sense of optimism that "Hanoi is on our side." They see Vietnam's historical suspicions ...