ZIMBABWECHINA Re-enter the dragon 26th June 2009 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site Bilateral trade is growing as Chinese diplomats explain their role in the negotiations for Zimbabwe's power-sharing government The Beijing-Harare axis is thriving under Zimbabwe's power-sharing government. Despite opposition claims that China would lose influence because of its close relations with President Robert Mugabe and its historical support for the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), trade with Zimbabwe is increasing again. Furthermore, Beijing's officials say they helped prepare the ground for the new government, a claim which irritates Western diplomats.
ZIMBABWECHINA China's trains, Zimbabwe's tobacco 26th June 2009 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site Beyond the political controversy about relations with the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front regime, Chinese businesses are set to provide an important source of new investment and jobs for Harare's shaky...
SENEGALCHINA Wade's skyscraper legacy 26th June 2009 Image courtesy of Panos Pictures View site Popular discontent and a lack of transparency threaten China's largest property development deal in West Africa Kawsara in the Koran is one of the heavenly gardens promised to virtuous Muslims. In Dakar, it is the name of an ambitious property development, the Cité des Affaires Kawsara, which...
CONGO-KINSHASACHINA Tug of war 26th June 2009 The IMF has scored some points in its battle with China over the mining-for-infrastructure deal but a final decision is unlikely before year's end The International Monetary Fund's pressure on Kinshasa has led to the first sign of the government buckling. At the end of 2007, President Joseph Kabila's government agreed a US$9 billion deal...
MOZAMBIQUECHINABRIEFING Billions for all 26th June 2009 The list of countries with multibillion-dollar, Chinese-backed projects is growing longer, with Mozambique the latest country to receive a golden handshake. In late May, China Exim Bank announced US$2.3 billion in...
CÔTE D'IVOIRECHINA As sweet as chocolate 26th June 2009 Despite questions about elections and stability, Chinese companies are streaming in Western investors are waiting around on the sidelines, nervous that the outcome of Côte d'Ivoire's elections, scheduled for 29 November, may bring more instability, but Chinese investors are heading straight for...
CHINAAFRICABRIEFING Leaky dam builders 26th June 2009 While China's leading dam-builder Sinohydro was busy dealing with complaints from Western non-governmental organisations about its refusal to engage with local populations, an East African NGO shut down one of Sinohydro's...
CHINAAFRICABRIEFING Minerals meltdown 26th June 2009 China is taking advantage of the global economic crisis to restructure its mining industry. A 4 trillion renminbi (US$586 billion) stimulus plan, announced late last year, encompasses sector-specific reform measures put...
CHINAAFRICABRIEFING ICBC's toe in African waters 26th June 2009 The October 2007 merger between the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank, and Standard Bank, South Africa's largest, is finally showing its potential. After a lacklustre start,...
INDIA R.S. Sharma 26th June 2009 Chairman and Managing Director, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India R.S. Sharma has the top job at India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), a state-owned company with a growing global agenda. Market capitalisation makes ONGC India's second-largest company, trailing Reliance...
VIETNAM Nong Duc Manh 26th June 2009 General Secretary, Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Its revolutionary days are long over and CPV General Secretary Nong Duc Manh leads an outward-looking Vietnam committed to multilateral diplomacy, which this year has taken steps to mend relationships (and...
MALAYSIA Musa Hitam 26th June 2009 Chairman, Sime Darby, Malaysia Malaysia's Sime Darby has signed a US$800 million deal securing a 63-year concession to 220,000 hectares in Liberia that include the troubled Guthrie Rubber Plantations. Sime Darby, a government-controlled plantation operator,...
CHINA Zhang Ming 26th June 2009 Director General of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China Zhang Ming rose to his position through the West Asia and North Africa Department of China's Foreign Affairs Ministry, which he joined in the early 1980s. Postings at the embassies in...