Africa Needs China For Its Digital Development – But At What Price?
February 28th, 2024
Via The East African, commentary on China’s involvement in many African nations’ digital development: The global market for information and communication technology infrastructure is controlled by a handful of producers. It is sometimes assumed that African leaders choose Chinese providers because they offer the cheapest technology. Researchers believe that China’s export of critical infrastructure components will enable military and industrial […]
Read more »Cambodia’s Airport Dreams Stall as Chinese Money Dries Up
February 23rd, 2024
Courtesy of Nikkei Asia, an update on Cambodia’s Chinese-funded airport dreams: For years, an airport has been slated for construction in Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province, but all that exists are concrete fence posts across the razed farmlands of an indigenous community, cleared for a runway that may never get built. Remote Mondulkiri was an odd choice […]
Read more »On Track: Nigerian Rail Projects Drive Home China’s BRI Commitment To African Infrastructure
February 21st, 2024
Via South China Morning Post, a look at Chinas BRI commitment to African infrastructure: Senior diplomat Wu Peng’s support of projects in Nigeria has reinforced China’s commitment to helping African growth But experts say a switch of banks financing a Nigerian rail project points to Beijing’s shift in focus from concessional to commercial lending Building […]
Read more »‘Strings Attached’: Saudi Arabia Steps Up Demands In Tech Deals with China
February 20th, 2024
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a look at how Alibaba’s and SenseTime’s huge joint ventures in Gulf kingdom have come with stringent requirements around training local teams and investment: Saudi Arabia is mandating that leading Chinese technology companies invest in the Gulf kingdom in return for huge deals, as it leverages its petrodollar wealth to boost […]
Read more »The China-Built Addis-Djibouti Railway Gains Steam
February 18th, 2024
Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at a new approach to utilizing the potential of the two-country railway line between Ethiopia and Djibouti has already been producing several of the desired results. A people-centered turn is yet to come: The Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway (AADR) has been in operation since 2018 – the year when we […]
Read more »The World Needs More Belts and More Roads, Chinese-Style
February 13th, 2024
Via South China Morning Post, commentary from influential author Parag Khanna how the Belt and Road Initiative is exactly the blueprint needed in this age of uncertainty and instability: A new generation of Western doom-and-gloomers about China has emerged. Many point to admittedly serious problems, some of them chronic and structural, and argue the country […]
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.