The Solomon Islands signed a police cooperation agreement with China, as part of upgrading their ties to a strategic comprehensive partnership. This resulted from a state visit by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to Beijing, and follows alarm in the U.S. and Australia due to a joint security pact signed last year. (REUTERS)
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare arrived in Beijing on Sunday for his first visit since signing a controversial security pact with China. Sogavare again pledged to “remain neutral” in the escalating U.S.-China duel and said infrastructure development will be the focus of his talks with Chinese officials. (REUTERS)
The Honduran government is looking to China to help finance a $20 billion railway project that will connect the country’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Economic Development Minister Fredy Cerrato made the request on Friday during talks with Chinese officials about various proposed infrastructure projects. (REUTERS)
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is expected to meet with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi on the sidelines of an ASEAN forum in Indonesia. The meeting, if it happens, comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two Asian powers over territorial disputes, maritime security and the release of radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear facility. (JAPAN TIMES)
Netflix removed the Chinese-made drama series “Flight to You” from its service in Vietnam, after Hanoi banned it for containing a map echoing Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. In the same week, the Korean pop group Blackpink faces an online backlash and a possible boicott of their Vietnamese tour, after the Chinese company promoting the event also included the nine-dash-line map on their website. This follows the Vietnamese government’s move last week to ban the upcoming Barbie blockbuster due to the presence of a hand-drawn version of the controversial map, which contradicts Vietnamese claims in the region. (VARIETY)
The mining giant China Molybdenum (aka CMOC) confirmed that it has restarted shipments of copper and cobalt from Tenke Fungurume, one of the world’s largest cobalt mines. This follows the resolution of a revenue dispute with the government Democratic Republic of Congo in April. Tenke Fungurume supplied a tenth of global cobal supplies in 2021. (REUTERS)
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is reportedly sick and will not attend this week’s ASEAN summit in Indonesia. China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will attend in his place. Qin also missed last month’s BRICS foreign ministers gathering in Cape Town. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Chinese oil refiners will reduce their purchases of Saudi Arabian crude in August in favor of more affordable supplies from West Africa and Latin America. Chinese oil inventories are also bulging after months of binging on low-cost Russian imports. (REUTERS)
Kenyans are the world’s most active TikTok userswith more than 54% of those surveyed using the Chinese social media app for news and entertainment. Japan was the lowest with only a 9% usage rate, according to this year’s Reuters Institute Digital News Report. (REUTERS INSTITUTE)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi on Thursday on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gatherings taking place in Jakarta. The meeting, together with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s recent trip to Beijing, an upcoming one by climate czar John Kerry, and this week’s rare visit by Xie Feng, China’s U.S. ambassador, to the Pentagon are seen to be paving the way for a meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping later this year. (REUTERS)
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi held closed-door talks with her Chinese and Russian counterparts on the sidelines of ASEAN ministerial meetings in Jakarta on Wednesday. A meeting between her and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi preceded the trilateral talks, after which she had a separate twenty-minute one-on-one with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Marsudi told reporters the trilaterlal talks focused on ASEAN relations, while her talks with Lavrov covered food and energy security, and possible visits. (JAKARTA GLOBE)
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) opened its first batch of RMB-denominated bank accounts in Argentina. The initial group of account holders are mostly resource companies, for example the lithium developer Liex SA. According to Association of Argentinian Banks the demand for RMB accounts is rising among both companies and individuals and other banks are reportedly also investigating the option of starting similar services. (CHINA BELT AND ROAD NETWORK WECHAT PAGE – in Chinese)
