Xinyi Glass investment in Egypt, Algeria cancels Chinese port project, US offers $15m for info on PRC tech suppliers to Iran, China-KSA cultural cooperation, Turkiye-China security talks, GT on VOA
Ramadan Kareem! To celebrate the Holy Month I’m offering a 25% discount on all subscriptions until March 30th.
A post of stories without commentary, as I’ve got an unexpected empty hour.
China’s Xinyi Glass Invests $700M in SCZone for Solar Panel Glass Manufacturing - Egypt Today. Another big Chinese investment into renewables in MENA, and another big Chinese investment into the Suez Canal Economic Zone:
China’s Xinyi Glass has announced a $700 million investment to establish a solar panel glass manufacturing facility in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE).
According to an official statement, the project will be executed in two phases and is set to produce 1.5 million tons of solar panel glass and 1.1 million tons of high-purity silica sand annually.
Algeria cancels deep-water port project with China - AGBI.
Algeria has officially shelved a $3 billion project to build what could have been one of Africa’s largest ports, nine years after a group of Chinese and Algerian companies signed an initial agreement, Ports Europe reported.
The Algerian authorities, China State Construction Engineering Corporation and the China Harbour Engineering Company, signed an initial agreement in 2016 to develop El-Hamdania port.
The deep-water facility, at Cherchell, about 90km west of the capital Algiers, would have had an annual capacity of 26 million tonnes of goods.
China State Construction announced that the project would be financed by China Eximbank, according to international development research lab AidData. The Chinese company Shanghai Ports would operate the facility for 25 years after completion.
Algeria signed up to China’s global infrastructure development project – called the Belt and Road Initiative – in 2018, and the two countries announced in 2022 the signing of further cooperation agreements. The port project was a part of that initiative.
The El-Hamdania project was suspended in 2019 in the wake of unrelated national political demonstrations, although AidData says that discussions to re-open the project continued.
Menas Associates, a market intelligence consultancy focused on the Middle East and Africa, has blamed a combination of the government’s lack of project management skills, squabbling and infighting between vested interests, corruption and political instability for the project’s suspension.
US offers $15M for info on Chinese tech suppliers to Iran - Iran International.
The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $15 million for information on four Chinese individuals involved in supplying Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with US-controlled technology.
The IRGC, including its Qods Force, is designated by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and has been linked to armed groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.
The US government has accused the Chinese nationals—Liu Baoxia, Li Yongxin, Yung Yiu Wa, and Zhong Yanlai—of using front companies to illegally procure and transfer US electronic components to Iran.
“Beginning as early as May 2007, Liu and her associates allegedly utilized an array of front companies in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to send dual-use US-origin electronic components to IRGC-linked companies that could be used in the production of UAVs, ballistic missile systems, and other military end uses,” the State Department said in its announcement.
The Justice Department charged them in January 2024 with conspiring to smuggle thousands of restricted components for use in Iranian drones and missile systems.
Last week, Rewards for Justice offered a reward of up to $15 million for information that could disrupt financial networks supporting a drone-production arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Qods Force called Kimia Part Sivan Company (KIPAS).
The company has also sourced key drone components from foreign suppliers, according to US officials.
Saudi Arabia seizes chance to deepen cultural ties with China - China Daily.
This China Daily article gives a brief overview of some of the efforts KSA has made in deepening cultural/education relations with PRC:
Saudi Arabia and China are deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership with this year's China-Saudi Arabia Year of Culture, marking a milestone in cultural collaboration, alongside significant advances in trade and investment, says Saudi Arabia's ambassador to China, Abdulrahman bin Ahmed Al-Harbi.
"As part of the comprehensive strategic partnership, Saudi Arabia and China are exploring collaboration opportunities across all sectors, including trade, investment and culture," he told China Daily. "This year's China-Saudi Arabia Cultural Year is a milestone, marking a new focus in our cooperation."
Saudi-Chinese team discovers ancient treasures at Al-Sirrain - Arab News. Another China-Saudi collaboration:
Saudi Arabia’s Heritage Commission has completed the third season of the archaeological excavation at the Al-Sirrain site in Al-Lith governorate, Makkah region.
The project was carried out in collaboration with China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration as part of a bilateral agreement to exchange expertise in archaeological excavation, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
It coincides with the Saudi-Chinese Cultural Year 2025, which features joint cultural initiatives. The goal is to strengthen cultural exchange and highlight historical ties between the two civilizations through the Silk Road.
Türkiye, China hold 2nd security cooperation meeting in Ankara - Daily Sabah.
The second meeting of the Türkiye-China Joint Security Cooperation Mechanism was held in the Turkish capital Ankara on Thursday.
The meeting tackled Türkiye and China’s counterterrorism policies, as well as regional and international security issues, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X.
Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yılmaz and his Chinese counterpart Chen Xiaodong chaired the meeting, it added.
Why VOA, known as a ‘lie factory,’ has halted operations: Global Times editorial - Global Times. Coming from the Global Times, this is rich. For those of you who don’t read the GT regularly, it is the textbook definition of a propaganda outlet. Their take on the Trump admin defunding VOA:
Clearly, VOA has never been a "fair and impartial" media outlet, but rather a thoroughly biased "propaganda poison." Now, in Washington, against the backdrop of reducing federal agency funding, the decision to stop funding for entities like VOA has immediately prompted some anti-China politicians in the US to label this move as "a massive gift" to China, effectively tearing off the fig leaf of VOA as a propaganda tool themselves.