Allegations and accusations that China is trapping Africa into unsustainable debt agreements have dominated the conversation around Africa-China relations in Western media, but what does the data tell us? The reality is that China is canceling 23 loans to African countries amid this 'Debt Trap' debate. We look at the international implications of this claim, what debt trap diplomacy is, and who owns most of Africa's external debts. Featuring Sri Lanka, the African Development Bank, and the “secret” lenders they don’t tell us about, with Mikaela Nhondo Erskog researcher at TriContinental Institute for Social Research and one of the hosts of the new podcast The Crane, an African China podcast by the Dongsheng Collective. Plus: We discuss Mikhail Gorbachev’s legacy, what to make of Biden’s student loan debt moves, Lindsey Graham’s threats of “riots in the streets” if Trump is prosecuted, and more...
West projecting its own image onto China when labeling it imperialist According to many Western commentators—from the center-left to the far-right—China is the major threat to democracy, climate, peace and sovereignty in the 21st century. It is an issue where Donald Trump and Joe Biden are completely aligned. On the...
Western Politicians and Media, However, Made It Seem Like They Were Innocent Victims of China’s Authoritarianism On December 1, 2018, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested, at the behest of the United States government, at the Vancouver Airport by Canadian authorities on trumped up fraud charges involving Iran. She ended...
In the summer of 2024, this author participated in a media tour of China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), at the invitation of the State Information Council Office of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). And what was found? That despite the Western narrative of genocide, cultural repression and forced labor,...
Background observations by a European author living in Asia on the current escalation with China After the megaphones of the West have already called for all-out economic war against Russia, the battle cry against China is now being heard, regardless of the consequences for the “common people.” The reaction of...
Persecution of Chinese scientists is part of anti-China policy that could lead to World War III On March 20, Danhao Wang, a brilliant thirty-year-old Chinese post-doctoral physicist at the University of Michigan, allegedly took his own life after being subjected to hostile questioning by federal agents. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs...
Of course, police brutality against peaceful protesters in China and elsewhere is reprehensible and condemnable. When it happens in China, it is particularly heinous—at least from the point of view of Western mainstream media and politicians who are particularly concerned about human rights in China. Only exceptionally does a Western...
Already threatening war with Russia, the White House this month has unveiled a new imperial grand strategy for the Indo-Pacific that raises the prospects of war with China. The new strategy starts by repeating familiar clichés about America’s supposed humanitarian intentions in Southeast Asia and role in providing the security...
New book details saga of two CIA officers, Jack Downey and Richard Fecteau, who were imprisoned for 19 years in China following a botched covert operation in the “Asian Bay of Pigs.” Six years ago, The New York Times reported that the Chinese government systematically dismantled CIA spying operations in the...
On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan, marking a major escalation of U.S. aggression towards China. While this may not on it’s face seem alarming, the reality is that the U.S. is playing with fire. 1979 was the last time that a U.S. head of state or member of the ruling party visited Taiwan. Since the 70’s the official policy of the U.S. has been the One China policy, and this visit undermines this very policy. China’s statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “These moves, like playing with fire, are extremely dangerous. Those who play with fire will perish by it.”