This weekend was a rough one for South Africa. On Sunday, the country watched as fires around Table Mountain slowly started creeping downhill, towards the beautiful campus of the University of Cape Town (UCT). Soon it was confirmed that the university’s African Studies library, which housed a unique collection of African film, and one of the biggest repositories of historical documents related to Southern Africa, was on fire. Librarians are still trying ...
Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Chinese Embassies, Ambassadors Stay Largely Quiet on the China CDC Director’s Vaccine Efficacy Controversy
China's normally bombastic diplomatic Twitter accounts in Africa were uncharacteristically silent on Monday with regards to the controversy that broke out over the weekend when Gao Fu, the director of the China CDC, acknowledged that Chinese vaccines are not as effective as the Pfizer and Moderna jabs. ...
DRC Take Note: China’s BYD Says It’ll No Longer Used Cobalt in Its Electric Vehicles
Shenzhen-based electric vehicle giant BYD (aka Build Your Dreams), the world's second-largest EV-maker, recently made a stunning announcement that it will no longer use cobalt in any of its vehicles. Instead, the company is going all-in on LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) batteries in place of ...
In 5 Years, the Battle Over Cobalt is Going to Intensify… a LOT!
There are just five years left before the demand for cobalt, a critical metal used to make the batteries in electric vehicles, is going to outstrip the known supply of this strategically vital resource. And with 60-70% of the world's cobalt reserves located in ...
Two Events in China and the DR Congo Illustrate Why the Race for Cobalt Supplies is So Important
Soaring demand for electric cars and trucks is sparking a buying frenzy for the critical ingredients used to make the batteries in those vehicles, namely cobalt. Prices for the metal are up 65% this year alone, the highest since 2018, at $53,000 a ton. ...
With the Two Sessions Now Underway in Beijing, Chinese Diplomats in Africa Extend Their “Legislative Greetings”
China's largest legislative event of the year is now underway in Beijing where 5,000 delegates from the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC) are meeting in what's become known as the "Two Sessions."
Change in Guangzhou’s African Diaspora Community
April 11th will mark the one-year anniversary of what's become known as "the Guangzhou Incident" when dozens, possibly hundreds of African residents in the southern Chinese city were evicted from their homes and hotels. Chinese officials denied that Black and African ...
China Launches Full-Scale Media Blitz in Africa to Counter Mounting U.S-European Pressure on Xinjiang
China's propaganda strategists launched a full-scale campaign in print, broadcast and social media to rebut allegations of genocide and widespread human rights violations in Xinjiang. The effort is especially noticeable in Africa where over the past 24 hours, Chinese diplomatic ...
Background: For More Than a Decade, Africa’s Been the Top Destination for Chinese Foreign Aid
Since 2010, Africa's been the largest recipient of Chinese foreign aid, even as China's ties in Asia have grown to be more geopolitically consequential. However, when reviewing data in the recently-published white paper on Chinese international development, analysts ...
Despite Lots of M&A Activity in the Cobalt Mining Sector, Chinese Imports of the Precious Metal Fell Sharply in 2020
Chinese cobalt imports fell 41.8% last year compared to the volumes shipped from the DRC in 2019, according to the mining news website Argus Media. The lockdowns in response to COVID-19 at the mines in the DRC and at South African ports, from where the precious metal ...
“I Can Be 100% Congolese and 100% Chinese” Social Media Star Zhong Feifei Tells Teen Vogue
Chinese-Congolese social media influencer, model, and aspiring pop star Zhong Feifei got a break this week when the hugely popular publication Teen Vogue profiled her and featured a Q&A: TV: You have a mixed ancestry of both Chinese and Congolese, what was ...