China’s $8.5 Trillion shadow banking is fully revived

East Africa has been ramping up efforts to expose its citizens to Chinese culture - particularly through language. In Kenya Mandarin is offered as a selective language in the national curriculum, while in Uganda it’s now a compulsory subject in some schools. But is this simply an exchange of cultures, or is there more to it?

Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, saddled with around $300 billion in debt, has been struggling to meet interest payments on its loans. If it collapses, some of its partner firms could be driven to bankruptcy, prospective homebuyers could lose deposits and some banks would lend less money, which would lead to a credit crunch in the world's second-biggest economy. Property developers in China have in fact created an oversupply: there is enough empty property in the country to house more than 90 million people. FRANCE 24's team reports.

Since September, the name Evergrande has caused panic on stock exchanges around the world. Paralysed by $300 billion in debt (€260 billion), or the equivalent of 2 percent of Chinese GDP, the country's second-largest real estate developer is now threatening Chinese growth. Evergrande has more than 1,300 construction projects across China, as well as financial products, electric cars, livestock, bottled water and even a football club.

The EU and China have pledged to boost funding of green investment projects in ASEAN. But will these erstwhile partners, whose relations have soured over the past year, be able to work side by side?

July 12 marks the fifth anniversary of a landmark ruling by the independent Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague that rejected China's claims to contested islands in the South China Sea. Despite the 2016 ruling, Beijing has deployed forces to prevent fishers from the Philippines from accessing the waters.

The SPD's Olaf Scholz, Germany's next chancellor, has presented his Cabinet ministers for the new government, to be sworn in on Wednesday. He offered a few surprises.

A new report by Amnesty International details China's systematic persecution of the Uyghur minority. It shows how Beijing has carried out a campaign of repression against the predominantly Muslim minority, incarcerating millions in so-called "reeducation" camps. Will this report finally make the international community act? Phil Gayle asked Joanne Mariner from Amnesty International.

The leaders of the Social Democrats, Greens and the Free Democrats met in Berlin to officially sign their three-party coalition deal.

It has become a major preoccupation of many governments across the globe; how to build a productive diplomatic relationship with China. This particularly as tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to ratchet upwards with Beijing's Winter Olympic Games in February now facing an American diplomatic boycott. Annette Young talks to Canadian-Chinese journalist and author, Joanna Chiu, whose new book 'China Unbound' argues how democracies have effectively enabled Beijing's campaign to increase its global influence. She speaks about the diplomatic toolkit required to ensure a healthy and robust relationship with China.

A new report by Amnesty International details China's systematic persecution of the Uyghur minority. It shows how Beijing has carried out a campaign of repression against the predominantly Muslim minority, incarcerating millions in so-called "reeducation" camps. Will this report finally make the international community act? Phil Gayle asked Joanne Mariner from Amnesty International.

Burkina Faso's Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire has resigned amid an escalating security crisis that led to street protests calling for his ouster. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore accepted Dabire's letter of resignation on Wednesday.

China warned Western nations on Thursday they would "pay the price" for a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.