As things slowly settle down in South Africa after the last ruinous week, the debates about who’s really to blame are catching fire. It’s now being called an insurrection attempt, and President Ramaphosa has referred to those responsible for fueling the protests as ‘enemies of democracy.’ One of the problems underlying the current crisis is that he’s both right and wrong. South Africa is indeed, as Ramaphosa called it, a ‘hard-fought-for democracy.’ ...
Category: U.S.-China
The China-Mediterranean Observer: China Emerges as Key Mediator in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Standoff
Among the most interesting topics discussed this month in the media published throughout the wider Mediterranean region, the crisis over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia stands out. We also found a number of interesting reports regarding the relations between the countries of ...
With U.S. COVID Jabs Now Landing in Africa, Vaccine Rivalry With China Likely to Intensify
For the first since the beginning of the pandemic, U.S.-made vaccines are arriving in Africa, opening what will likely become another front in the burgeoning global rivalry with China. The first half of an order of 300,000 doses of Johnson & ...
Countries Throughout Asia & The Americas Struggle to Find Balance Between the U.S. and China
Countries throughout the Global South have said repeatedly that they do not want to be forced to choose sides in the increasingly acrimonious relationship between the United States and China. But in some cases, they no longer have a choice. That's ...
With Just One Donation, U.S. Vaccine Distributions to Africa Nearly Match China’s
The U.S. government announced on Friday that it will send 25 million vaccine doses to Africa, a donation that comes close to matching the 27.9 million jabs that China has provided to various African countries over the past six months.
China Champions the Human Rights of “Africans and People of African Descent” in UN Squabble With the U.S.
China's increasingly contentious dispute with European and North American countries over human rights in Xinjiang has now led to Beijing rallying on behalf of "Africans and people of African descent" in Western countries who are the victims of systemic racism in those societies. The issue first came ...
U.S. Ethnic Cleansing Charges Against Ethiopia and China May Be Helping to Foster Closer Ties Between Addis and Beijing
The U.S. State Department submitted a report to Congress this week that named both Ethiopia and China among a group of countries that commits ethnic cleansing against their own people. The designation has roiled ties between the U.S. and Ethiopia, ...
China Pushes Back Against U.S. Criticism That It’s Not Doing Enough to Support the G20’s Debt Relief Initiative
The Chinese government is becoming increasingly impatient with the persistent U.S. criticism that it isn't doing enough to support the G20's Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). U.S. officials have steadily increased their critiques in July in the run-up to the G20 finance ministers meeting in Italy that ...
Scholar: G7’s B3W is Just a Bad Copy of China’s Belt and Road
It's been a month since the G7 unveiled its new "Build Back Better World" (B3W) initiative that aims to rival China's Belt and Road Initiative by providing an alternative source of infrastructure development financing that is presumably more transparent and sustainable. So far, ...
White House Official Blames China for the Failures of the G20’s DSSI
The White House's point person on G7 and G20 affairs, Daleep Singh, singled out China for the failures of the G20's Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). "The DSSI and the Common Framework is not impactful enough right now," said Singh during an online discussion ...
The Diplomat’s Shannon Tiezzi on China and the Global South
While China's ties with Europe, the U.S., Japan, and other wealthy northern countries steadily worsen, Beijing is leaning harder on its relations with states in the Global South. The importance of those ties was on full display over the past week ...
The B3W’s Many ‘Shoulds’
Despite seemingly coming from the same naming tradition that gave us Melania Trump’s Be Best campaign, the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative is firmly pointed away from the recent past. It seems driven by a new willingness to face the many barriers that shape our current ...