India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh describes Africa as ‘an emerging priority’ for his government, which is poised to reinforce its economic, diplomatic and security links with the continent...

The Democratic Party of Japan’s crisis of popularity forced a cabinet reshuffle and now a new raft of ministers will handle relations with Africa. The replacement of Land,...

Struggles within the Democratic Party of Japan and also between the DPJ, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and smaller coalition parties promise more turbulent politics in Japan this...

China’s invitation to South Africa – rather than South Korea – to join the developing-country top table group of Brazil, Russia, India and China in December has irritated...

Africa is another theatre in which North and South Korea play out their rivalries. This has led to unintended consequences, especially in the case of a South Korean...

West Africa is only a recent target of Tokyo’s donor diplomacy and commercial overtures, and just last year Japan opened embassies in Mauritania and Mali. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for...

On 29 December, Park Young-june, an associate of President Lee Myung-bak and a familiar face in South Korea-Africa relations, hosted 13 African ambassadors at the Korea-Africa Round Table...

India is seeking African supplies to cope with a looming coal shortage. Dependent on coal, India has large reserves – 58.6 billion tonnes in 2009 – but environmental...

With the other Asian powers vying for business elsewhere, Singapore has focused on two sluggish oil-producing countries in Central Africa: Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon. President Denis Sassou-Nguesso’s government is...

Born in 1953 to a prominent Communist revolutionary, Xi Zhongxun, China’s presumed president-in-waiting, is a ‘princeling’ groomed to the elite class. Xi Jinping grew up in privilege in...