1. China in Africa

DR Congo signs $367m hydro deal with China
China has signed a $367-million deal to build a hydroelectric dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Chinese embassy in the central African country said. The country's ambassador to Congo signed off on the contract with the Congolese government on January 29, according to a news release from the embassy. The Central Zongo II project in Bas-Congo province, will be undertaken by Sinohydro, the company behind the Three Gorges Dam in China. When completed it is hoped the dam will produce 860 gigawatts of electricity a year.
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China offers Zimbabwe $3 bln for platinum-report
China has offered Zimbabwe $3 billion for vast platinum reserves, a local private newspaper reported on Friday but said the deal was likely to be rejected by the government over its terms. Zimbabwe, with an estimated $6 billion yearly economy, has the world's second largest platinum reserves after South Africa. It has relied heavily on Chinese investment to prop up a staggering economy largely shunned by the West over President Robert Mugabe's suspected human rights abuses.
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Chinese Foreign Minister, Visiting Zimbabwe, Sparks Hopes For Investment
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi arrived Thursday for a two-day visit to Zimbabwe amid hopes in Harare for billions of dollars in foreign direct invesment investment from Beijing. Yang is leading an 11-member delegation and is expected to sign economic co-operation agreements, China’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe said in a statement. "China is ready to work with Zimbabwe to further enhance political mutual trust, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and steadily elevate our friendship and cooperation," Yang said in a statement issued on arrival.
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China to build primary schools in Kenya
China will put up 10 ICT-driven model primary schools in Kenya as part of a project that aims at constructing 1000 such schools across the African continent. The Chairman of the World Eminence Chinese Business Association Mr. Junqing Lu said this when he paid a courtesy call on Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka at his Jogoo House office. Mr. Lu said the project dubbed "China-Africa Project Hope", which is driven by Chinese entrepreneurs has set aside approximately Ksh. 1.2Billion (15 million US dollars) towards the continental project.
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Cracks show in China's Angola partnership
Sino-Angolan relations took off at the end of Angola's three-decade conflict in 2002, when the Portuguese-speaking country was desperate for cash and know-how, just as China was embarking on its "Going Out" strategy of securing natural resources and new investment markets. In 2010, trade between the two countries was just under US$25 billion; in the past seven years, more than $10 billion of Chinese credit has been extended to Angola, with the latter paying back its debts in oil. But as China's presence in Angola has grown, so too has Western suspicion, and even though Brazil has also extended oil-backed credit to Angola, it is China that has been labeled in some quarters, particularly the US, as resource-hungry and neo-colonialist. Lucy Corkin, a research associate at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies Africa-Asia Center, said much of the "hysteria" around Sino-Angolan ties was based on "confusion about what is Chinese investment and what is Chinese aid".
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Angola, China seek cooperation to boost cereal production
Angola will benefit from Chinese support in Agricultural development, mainly in boosting cereal production in the African country, the Angolan Ambassador to China, João Manuel Bernardo, announced here Monday. The Angolan diplomat was speaking at the opening of a three-day 4th Broad Consultative Council of Foreign Affairs Ministry (Mirex). Bernardo said that the project was meant to take advantage of the wide Chinese experience in the cultivation of rice, maize, Soya and other cereals produced in Angola.
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China, Zambia trade at US$2bn
China's trade balance with Zambia, Africa's largest producer of copper remained robust at more than US$2 billion because of the close relationship with the East Asian country. This makes Zambia the third largest beneficiary in the Southern African region. Chinese ambassador to Zambia, Li Qiangmin said the relationship between the two countries has remained cordial, resulting in the trade balance swelling to US$2.2 billion in recent years because of the closer bilateral relationship the two countries enjoy.
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China supports Egypt's efforts to maintain social stability
China said Thursday it supported Egypt's efforts to maintain social stability and restore normal order, expecting ties between China and the Arab country to develop unaffected. "China holds that Egypt's affairs should be decided independently by the country without foreign interference," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular press briefing.
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Chinese, Nigerian leaders exchange congratulations on anniversary of diplomatic ties
Chinese President Hu Jintao exchanged congratulatory messages Thursday with his Nigerian counterpart Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. In his message, Hu said over the past 40 years, bilateral relations had witnessed smooth and healthy development. China-Nigeria relations have ushered in a new phase of fast development and yielded rich fruits since 2005, when the two countries established a strategic partnership based on mutual political trust, economic reciprocity and mutual support in international affairs, he said.
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2. India in Africa

India's Simhapuru targets S.African coal
India's Simhapuri Energy , a unit of the Madhucon Group , wants to buy new or existing collieries in South Africa from where it aimed to export a minimum of 5 million tonnes within five years, an official said on Tuesday. Indian companies are buying coal assets in top five global exporter South Africa as it moves to secure resources for a growing economy and to feed coal into new power plants. "We want to invest in coal and are looking at some acquisitions. From South Africa we are targeting a minimum of five milion tonnes of coal for export within five years," Nama Krishnaiah, director of Simhapuri Energy, told Reuters on the sidelines of an African mining conference.
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Ethiopia interested in signing DTAA with India
The government today said Ethiopia is interested in signing double taxation avoidance agreement with India. Visiting Ethiopian Finance Minister Sufian Ahmed "showed interest in signing of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Ethiopia," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. A DTAA is essentially a bilateral agreement between two countries to avoid the taxation of income earned in one country by both of them.
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3. In Other Emerging Powers News

Japan keen to invest 'billions' in Africa
Japan is keen to invest "billions of dollars" in minerals and infrastructure in Africa, trying to catch up to regional rival China for influence on the continent, a Japanese trade official said on Tuesday. Yoshikatsu Nakayama, vice minister of economy, trade and industry, said Japan was scouting for projects in which to invest, either through its state-owned oil and mining company Jogmec or joint ventures between local and Japanese companies. China has spent billions of dollars on projects in Africa, trying to secure the resources it needs to fuel its quickly accelerating economy. Analysts said the investment has given China an advantage in building trade in the emerging economies of Africa, leaving Japan behind for influence in the continent of one-billion consumers whose purchasing power is steadily increasing.
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TUSKON: Turkish-Nigerian trade can surpass $2 bln in short term
Rızanur Meral, the president of key Turkish business group the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) has said the trade volume between Turkey and Nigeria should increase more than twofold as soon as possible to over $2 billion from last year’s figure of $900 million. Speaking at the TUSKON-organized Turkey-Nigeria Trade and Investment Forum that Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan attended together with Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek on Thursday in İstanbul, Meral said most of the products Nigeria needs today are manufactured by Turkey “at an equal quality but for lower prices than in Europe” and added that “there is potential to swiftly increase the trade volume between the two countries to $2 billion.”
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4. Blogs, Opinions, Presentations and Publications

Sino-Tanzania relations: At whose cost?
Last December, local newspaper reports dated December 10,11 and 18, and this year’s such report dated January 16, under the headlines: RC atangaza kusaka wazungu wazururaji; Government warns foreigners in petty business; Mbunge astushwa wageni kuwa wapishi; Waishi nchini kinyume cha sheria, led me to quickly think of the Chinese living or doing business in Tanzania, especially in Dar es Salaam. The three headlines in Kiswahili mean: `Regional Commissioner announces search for white loiterers in the streets’; `Member of Parliament appalled by foreigners being employed as cooks’, and `They live in the country illegally’. I believe that Tanzania should keep tabs on the Chinese like a married couple should respectively keep tabs on the best-man or bridesmaid of their marriage, so that either of the latter may not go too far.
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A new “Southern Tour”: Chinese investment enters a new decade
Since the initial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000, the Chinese have made economic and political overtures to extend their substantial technical expertise and investment capital into Africa. At the fourth ministerial conference in 2009, China presented an eight-point plan that highlighted new areas for focus, including investment promotion, debt reduction, and emphasis on sustainable and social development issues.(2) Additionally, the plan outlines international exchanges, providing for African doctoral students to study in China and supplying Chinese medical and educational personnel to conduct training programmes and build the capacity of African countries to provide these social services.(3) Finally, the Government pledged to raise US$ 10 billion in preferential loan offers to African countries, of which 10% will go towards supporting small and medium enterprises.(4) Most of these funds will be managed by various development organisations, including the Beijing-based China Development Bank (CDB).(5) In 35 projects from Mauritius to Ghana to Zambia, the CDB, through its China-Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund), has expanded its role as a key investment player and driver of economic development on the continent. This paper will discuss the background to the CAD Fund and the role that this plays in strengthening China-Africa relations - both presently, and into the future.
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China, hip-hop and the new Sudan
For former child soldier and Sudanese hip-hop star Emmanuel Jal, Hong Kong's five-star Mira Hotel is just a bit too comfortable. "If it's too comfortable, I can't sleep properly," says Jal, recalling his days on the frontline of Sudan's bitter civil war. "I remember those nights I slept on battlefields with the sound of war all around me ... tat, tat, tat, boom!" "Of course, then you were never really asleep," he adds Sitting in an African diner in Hong Kong's Chungking Mansions -- the center of a booming trade in cheap Chinese knock-off mobile phones to Africa -- the Sudanese rapper is now perfectly at home, if a little stunned by the bizarre cultural mix in the restaurant. "Listen to the waitress," he marvels at a woman taking orders. "She's Chinese and speaks English with a perfect Nigerian accent. It's incredible!" Jal, in Hong Kong as part of the Make A Difference conference, a Hong Kong-based youth network, says his trip to China comes at a critical juncture for his country.
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The MENA, Egypt and Oil
No sooner had last week’s edition of MLM been published than tensions in Egypt reached a critical point. Users reported widespread Internet and mobile phone service disruptions. Units of “an elite special counterterrorism force” were reportedly deployed in preparation for protest gatherings to take place following Friday prayers. President Hosni Mubarak dismissed his government. Egyptians--millions of them--were not persuaded by Mr. Mubarak’s sacking of his government and naming of his first vice president (who happens to be a former chief of Egyptian intelligence), nor have they buckled since he declared he wouldn’t stand for re-election. Mr. Mubarak’s time in power is rapidly nearing its end. These 10 days, if they haven’t quite shaken the world, illustrate how delicate is the political balance in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA), a region of seemingly eternal promise but equally persistent strife that’s yet to come under the controlling influence of any one global power.
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Why is a billion-strong democracy silent on Egypt?
The parliament sat numbed, in an otherwise engaging November evening, when President Barack Obama, head of one of the two largest democracies, reminded the other that it had largely shied away from condemning suppression of democratic rights and movements. Obama's specific reference was to Myanmar and India's imperviousness to the military junta's rigged elections and repression of democracy groups. That this reference followed an exuberant praise of India's support to South Africa's anti-apartheid movement indicated a veiled rebuke of India's current policy of engaging whoever is in power in a country of interest. Neither is Washington an immaculate chevalier of the democracy sacrament. In fact, half of the world's autocrats owed their existence to American backing. Yet, at the risk of throwing stone from a glasshouse, Obama could question India's diminishing contribution to the global democracy cause, especially when it aspires to be permanently ordained in the UN Security Council.
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