China Offers Taliban Tariff-Free Trade, Inches Closer To Regime
October 25th, 2024
Via Nikkei Asia, an article on the Taliban efforts to find foreign investors willing to help it diversify its economy and profit from its mineral wealth, but Afghanistan exported no commodities to China last year: China will offer the Taliban tariff-free access to its vast construction, energy and consumer sectors, Beijing’s envoy to Afghanistan said […]
Read more »China Invites Colombia To Join BRI
October 24th, 2024
Via South China Morning Post, an article on China’s invitation to Colombia to join the BRI: China has invited Colombia to join the Belt and Road Initiative and is “exploring the possibility of a free-trade agreement” with the South American country, Beijing’s ambassador to Bogota told local media. Zhu Jingyang’s remarks on the China-centred investment and infrastructure scheme spanning […]
Read more »China’s Battle for Narratives in Africa
October 23rd, 2024
Via The Diplomat, a look at how China has built a media network to spread information to its advantage in a region that has increasingly become a theater of great power rivalry: In 2014, during the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping advocated for strengthening China’s soft power globally […]
Read more »Could Ugandan Rail Deal Convince China To Help Get Kenyan Project Back On Track?
October 23rd, 2024
Via South China Morning Post, a report on a recently announced rail project in Uganda could have wide-ranging implications for neighbouring Kenya: A Ugandan construction deal could provide the impetus needed to see China hand over extra financing to a stalled rail project in Kenya, according to observers. On Monday last week, Uganda awarded Turkish construction firm Yapi […]
Read more »Laos Durian Dreams Grow As Plantations Rise To Feed China
October 20th, 2024
Via Nikkei Asia, a report on how a new Chinese funded high-speed railways is fueling investment in the ‘king of fruits’ amid worries over forest loss: Chinese businessman Tao Jian spends an entire day navigating muddy roads on the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos, inspecting his budding durian empire of 50,000 trees. The area is nicknamed […]
Read more »Railroads and Roads: Nepal-China Relations Move Into Fast Lane
October 17th, 2024
Via the Malaysia Sun, a look at the growing ties between Nepal and China: Nepal and China have reaffirmed their commitment to advancing projects under the Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network (THMDCN), a Beijing-led idea that the two countries agreed to in April 2018. According to a statement issued by the Nepali Embassy in Beijing, Deputy […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.