China Focus: Year of the Horse’s Spring Festival Gala brings to fore China’s technological drift to robotics
Leading the charge was Unitree Robotics located in Hangzhou in east China, a returning performer that commanded attention on Monday night. Moving beyond the somewhat stiff dance routines of 2025, its new robots took centre stage in a martial arts spectacle, wielding swords and nunchucks alongside human masters from a renowned kung-fu school.
South Africa and China deepen diplomatic relations with signing of free trade agreement
Gideon Chitanga, researcher at the University of Johannesburg Centre for Africa-China Studies, said the agreement would expand South African markets and contribute to economic growth.
Kenyans mark Spring Festival Gala that featured cultural performances that included dragon and lion dances, Kung Fu and a cappella music
Sino-Kenyan cultural ties, as well as people-to-people exchanges, have thrived under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, she said, adding that in 2025, Kenya and China implemented a series of high-profile cultural exchange programs.
Temple fair in Uganda celebrates people-to-people exchanges ahead of Chinese New Year
Fan Xuecheng, charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Uganda, said that the Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese people and that celebrations such as the temple fair reflect the people-centred nature of China-Uganda cooperation.
Despite Africa’s co-development model with Beijing, Chinese financing remains opaque
Africa-China security cooperation is expanding, but African countries are approaching it cautiously, focusing mainly on non-combat support. Maritime security is one area of interest, with African countries looking to China for patrol vessels, surveillance systems and technical training to help secure vulnerable waterways such as the Gulf of Guinea, the Red Sea and the Mozambique Channel
Young Tanzanian inventor defies cultural taboos to start manufacturing fertiliser from human hair
Today, the 27-year-old Tanzanian is the founder and chief executive officer of Cut-Off Recycle Limited, a waste management and agricultural support company that transforms human hair into organic fertilisers.
It’s time US President Trump realised rules are not abstract ideals, but minimum guarantees of stability in a diverse world
For major countries, the true measure of responsibility lies not in how far they can test the boundaries of power, but in how consistently they subject it to rules. Respect for international law is what separates leadership from dominance, and order from coercion.
How African countries look seek to rebalance ties with China toward debt sustainability and value addition
National governments have taken additional steps. Countries such as Kenya, Ghana and Ethiopia have established inter-ministerial taskforces dedicated to overseeing Chinese-financed infrastructure projects. These bodies track project progress, enforce contract terms and evaluate socioeconomic impacts. Their effectiveness, however, varies widely.
Why Beijing’s support to junta-led regimes in West Africa is source of tensions in China-Africa security relations
In September 2025, officials from 40 African countries attended the Global Public Security Cooperation Forum (Lianyungang Forum), where GSI-linked public security cooperation featured prominently. China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the lead GSI implementing agency, convened the event.
China’s military footprint in Africa deepens with People’s Liberation Army-led BRICS naval drills
The exercise appears to be an attempt to normalise military cooperation within BRICS Plus without formally declaring a military alliance. Although BRICS – a loose coalition of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – was originally conceived of as an economic bloc, it has increasingly undertaken geopolitical engagements.
