china

Thailand Signs Submarine Deal With China To Balance US Ties

Thailand Signs Submarine Deal With China To Balance US Ties

September 25, 2025 3:31 am

Thailand has signed a long-delayed deal with China to acquire a 2,550-ton diesel-electric submarine, a move analysts say underscores Bangkok’s effort to assert strategic autonomy while preserving its long-standing alliance with the United States.

The Royal Thai Navy confirmed that Admiral Jirapol Wongwit, its chief, attended a signing ceremony at China Shipbuilding and Offshore International headquarters in Beijing on 16 September. The agreement covers the purchase of a Chinese-built Type 039A (Thai-designated S26T) submarine and includes technology transfer and crew training. Delivery is scheduled for 2028, after a roughly 40-month construction period.

Thailand originally planned to buy three submarines but …

China Uses TikTok As Leverage In US Talks

China Uses TikTok As Leverage In US Talks

September 23, 2025 8:35 am

For years, Beijing bristled at Washington’s demands that TikTok be sold off, dismissing the push as “robbers’ logic.” The video app, wildly popular with young Americans, became another front in the larger battle over technology, influence, and national security.

Now, China is signaling something different. Officials have begun floating the possibility that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, could part with its U.S. operations — a shift that has stirred speculation about what Beijing hopes to gain in return.

TikTok’s value lies not just in its audience of more than 170 million Americans, but in its algorithm — the recommendation engine credited …

US, China Reach ‘Framework’ Deal On TikTok Ownership Talks

US, China Reach ‘Framework’ Deal On TikTok Ownership Talks

September 16, 2025 7:26 am

The United States and China have reached a “framework agreement” over TikTok’s U.S. operations, potentially paving the way for American ownership of the popular video-sharing app. The deal was confirmed Monday after two days of trade negotiations in Madrid, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, adding that President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to finalize details on Friday.

The talks come ahead of a critical September 17 deadline requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. division or face a nationwide ban. The deadline, originally set for earlier this year, has already been extended …

Japan PM Ishiba Resigns Following Election Setbacks

Japan PM Ishiba Resigns Following Election Setbacks

September 7, 2025 10:30 am

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishib announced his resignation on Sunday, less than a year after taking office, following two bruising election defeats that cost his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) its long-held dominance.

The decision comes a day before the LDP was due to meet to consider a leadership vote that could have forced him out. Instead, Ishiba pre-empted the challenge by stepping aside, saying the timing was right after securing a trade deal with Washington.

“Now that a conclusion has been reached in the negotiations concerning the US tariff measures, I believe this is precisely the appropriate time,” the 68-year-old …

BRICS: Africa's Call For Fair Talks, Not Sacrifice

BRICS: Africa’s Call For Fair Talks, Not Sacrifice

September 4, 2023 1:23 am

In the corridors of global economic power, the emergence of BRICS—comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—stands as a transformative chapter in the narrative of 21st-century geopolitics. Representing a profound shift away from traditional Western dominance, BRICS brings to the table an ambitious agenda of recalibrating the global economic order. Yet, as history unfolds, the continent of Africa finds itself at a decisive juncture, confronting a seminal question: How can Africa, with its extraordinary wealth of natural resources and burgeoning market potential, ensure that it isn’t marginalised or exploited within this new paradigm?

The implications are vast. Given …

Debt-Trap: Is Africa Trading Off It's Sovereignty To China?

Debt-Trap: Is Africa Trading Off It’s Sovereignty To China?

February 20, 2023 3:25 am

Over the last two decades, the economic relationship between China and many African countries has continued to flourish, alongside speculation that the Chinese government has a hidden agenda. Many see sovereign immunity clauses in Chinese loan agreements as a ploy to re-colonise Africa from the back, while others ask whether these loans form a debt-trap diplomacy.

Chinese engagement with African countries, as one of the country’s most important economic partners, has spanned over two decades, traversing trade, investment, infrastructural financing, and aid. During this period, China has catapulted from being a relatively small investor to the highest creditor in sub-Saharan …

Why Africa Is The Only Continent That Can Survive By Itself

Why Africa Is The Only Continent That Can Survive By Itself

January 23, 2023 4:59 am

Over the past century, a number of narratives have been painted about Africa that, whether right or wrong, have contributed in no small measure to shaping the perception of the continent. Africa has been painted with narratives such as a child that is in dire need of development, an imminent threat, a rising economic power, a tinderbox of poverty, terrorism, forced migration, and deadly disease, and what have you. What some of the peddlers of these narratives have failed to do is to give Africa her full flowers and the due credit she deserves.

Despite the challenges Africa is facing, …

Xi Jinping Seals Third Term As China’s President

Xi Jinping Seals Third Term As China’s President

October 25, 2022 5:45 am

The President of China, Xi Jinping was yesterday confirmed as leader of the country’s Communist Party for a third term in office in the face of the controversies thrown up. 

Africa Daily News, New York reports that this was confirmed over the weekend at the 20th party congress, where no fewer than 2,400 delegates came together in Beijing to determine major reshuffles and constitutional changes before its official close.

Xi, who has been in power for over a decade was elected the party’s general secretary for another five-year term.

This has established the country’s return towards one-man rule after several …

China Announces Opening Of Police Station In Nigeria

China Announces Opening Of Police Station In Nigeria

October 19, 2022 3:33 am

The government of China has announced the opening of police stations in Nigeria and across over 20 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa in its bid to boost efforts aimed at tackling the increasing criminal activities of its citizens abroad.   

This announcement was contained in an investigative statement titled, ‘110 Overseas Chinese Transnational Policing Gone Wild’ which was obtained by Africa Daily News, New York.

According to multiple reports, the police stations are created to bring ‘down on all kinds of illegal and criminal activities involving overseas Chinese.’

Lesotho and Tanzania are the two other African countries …

US Must Develop Chips To Keep Up With China, Biden Admits

US Must Develop Chips To Keep Up With China, Biden Admits

September 10, 2022 6:42 am

President Joe Biden while speaking yesterday at a ceremony to break ground on a semi-conductor plant that making sophisticated computer chips is a matter of US national security in the face of an ‘assertive’ China.

‘All of this is in our economic interest, and it’s in our national security interest as well,’ Biden said at the site where Intel plans to build a $20 billion factory.

Biden made the trip to highlight recent legislation passed at his behest setting aside $52 billion to boost US semiconductor production. He said the initiative was part of the broader rivalry between the United …

World’s First Inhalable Covid-19 Vaccine Approved By China

World’s First Inhalable Covid-19 Vaccine Approved By China

September 6, 2022 5:58 am

Drug regulators in China have approved the world’s first inhalable Covid-19 vaccine, which was made by Tianjin-based manufacturer CanSino Biologics, improving the company’s share price by seven percent on Tuesday. 

The National Medical Products Administration gave the go-ahead for the vaccine for emergency use as a booster, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday.

Africa Daily News, New York reports that shortly after the announcement, company shares surged 14 percent on Monday morning before closing 7.1 percent higher than their opening value.

The needle-free vaccine — which can be stored and administered more …

Japan Demands Africa's Seat On The UN Security Council

Japan Demands Africa’s Seat On The UN Security Council

August 29, 2022 4:04 am

Japan has pledged to employ its position on the Security Council of the international organisation to advocate for an African seat at the UN—saying that the African country has been mistreated even up till now.

‘Japan reiterates its determination to redress the historical injustice against Africa of not being represented through a permanent membership on the Security Council,’ Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Tunis, Tunisia on Sunday.’

‘In order for the UN to work effectively for peace and stability, there is an urgent need to strengthen the UN as a whole …

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𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤, is a nonpartisan online news portal founded on the truth to provide you with weekly, insightful articles written with precision and current updates on current events from Africa in particular and the rest of the world in general. All of our reports undergo extensive fact-checking to ensure their veracity, and we adhere strictly to the facts, no matter whose ox is gored.

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