Chinese envoy travels to Zambia as country faces debt crisis
According to the South China Morning Post, Du Xiaohui, China's 16th ambassador to Zambia, arrived on April 17, when the East African nation faced a debt crisis. Zambia is awaiting a decision from private lenders and the world's 20 wealthiest nations on its application for debt relief under the G20's common ...
Australia says Solomons-China pact’s ‘lack of transparency’
In a local television interview on Sunday, April 17, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that there are concerns about a 'lack of transparency' in the controversial proposed security pact between the Solomon Islands and China. According to Bloomberg, Payne said that the concern is "something that should be discussed in ...
83-year-old American nun kidnapped by terrorists in Burkina Faso
Last Monday, April 4, as a result of a night raid that took place in Burkina Faso, a West African country, an 83-year-old nun was kidnapped by armed men. The news was confirmed this Tuesday by Bishop Théophile Naré of the town of Kaya. Sister Suellen Tennyson of the Congregation of Marianite Sisters ...
Experts comment on leaked treaty between China and Solomon
Pacific island country Solomon Islands and the Chinese government have sealed a treaty that has aroused international attention. Some experts made comments about the treaty leaked to social media on March 24. The draft of the treaty stated that "Solomon Islands may, according to its own needs, request China to send ...
‘Insulting’: Solomon Islands’ PM brushes off criticism of China security deal
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, on Tuesday, March 29, dismissed so-called "insulting" concerns from Australia and New Zealand about the leaked draft agreement between the Solomon Islands and China. According to The Guardian, in his first comments to parliament on the proposed treaty, Prime Minister Sogavare said, "We find it ...
Solomon Islands Prime Minister has no plans to ask China to build military bases
According to Reuters, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told his parliament on March 29 that the leaked security document was a draft and that he would not reveal the final deal's content. He said, "We are not pressured in any way by our new friends, and there is no intention ...
Chinese state-own firm lost control of cobalt mine in Congo
A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo appointed a temporary administrator to take over China Molybdenum's Tenke Fungurume mine, or TFM, on Monday, March 1, according to Reuters. China Molybdenum or China Moly holds an 80% stake, and state miner Gecamines holds a 20% stake in TFM. The New York Times ...
Sri Lanka’s potential default, incurring China’s ‘debt trap’
In January 2021, Russia and Ukraine accounted for more than a quarter of Sri Lanka's tourism source markets. Russia was also the second-largest buyer of Sri Lanka's tea in January. Both countries had increasingly become an essential source of foreign currency for Sri Lanka. However, under frozen tourism and blocked ...
EU ‘Global Gateway’ plan invests $170 billion in Africa to counter China’s BRI
According to Reuters, the two-day summit between the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) ended on February 18th in Brussels, where the EU's headquarters is located. Both sides agreed to restart the partnership and build a new common vision during the meeting. The EU has launched an initiative to spend ...
US visits and persuades Equatorial Guinea to reject China’s plans for local naval base
According to the Wall Street Journal reports, senior U.S. diplomatic and military officials have visited Equatorial Guinea this week to encourage the Central African country to reject China's desire to create an army facility on its Atlantic coast. The U.S. Department of State (DOS) informed that the U.S. delegation met with ...
Europe moves ahead of China’s Belt and Road Africa plan with funding package of $22.7 billion
According to Bloomberg, to compete with Chinese investment in Africa, the European Union is working on a $22.7 billion funding package to support African transport networks and projects in energy, digital, education, and health to counter China's reach. Before the funding package from the European Union, China's debt-trap diplomacy continued in ...
South African government sues Huawei
According to Reuters, South Africa plans to fine the local unit of Huawei with 1.5 million rands (99,151 dollars) or 2% of the local firm's annual 2020 turnover. On Friday, the labor department said almost 90% of the company's employees were foreign nationals, violating the requirement to employ 60% South Africans ...
Chinese trawlers’ illegal overfishing starving Sierra Leone locals
Fisheries employ 500,000 of the West African nation's nearly 8 million people. The industry accounts for 12% of the economy and provides 80% of the population's protein consumption. But their catch is dwindling rapidly due to widespread overfishing, particularly by Chinese trawler crews. According to President Julius Maada Bio in 2018, ...
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka falls back into Chinese regime’s ‘debt trap’ and asks for more loans from China
Sri Lanka's crisis-hit President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is calling on the Chinese regime to restructure his country's multi-billion dollar debt to China under the Belt and Road infrastructure megaproject (BRI), through which the regime grants usurious loans at unpayable rates to low-income countries. In the last decade, China has lent Sri Lanka ...
Illegal Iranian oil sales to China soared in 2021, defying US ban
Iran's authoritarian regime continues to openly defy sanctions imposed by the U.S.–led international community by increasing oil sales to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by 40% during 2021. According to a report by the watchdog group tracking illegal Iranian oil tankers, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), not only were the restrictions ...
Newborn baby found alive in Air Mauritius plane toilet bin
On New Year's Day, a newborn baby was discovered abandoned but alive inside a garbage can on an Air Mauritius jet. The aircraft, registered 3B-NBU, took off from Antananarivo (TNR), Madagascar's capital and largest city, at 17:08 local time and arrived at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in Mauritius at 19:39 ...
