Tag China

Asia Pacific, Policy & Politics

China’s Strategic Ambiguity on Taiwan

April 21, 2024

In recent years, Beijing has escalated its bellicosity towards Taipei—not least when it launched a large-scale military blockade and imposed various economic sanctions after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island in 2022. This trend of heightened Chinese…

Asia Pacific, Economics, Policy & Politics

In Hindsight: Evaluating the Complex Legacy of China’s WTO Accession

March 8, 2024

In the 1980s, a growing amicability in US-China economic relations began to emerge despite ongoing political tensions. Policymakers in both countries concentrated their efforts on formalizing trade relations, with the declaration of China’s Most Favored Nation status in the 1990s…

Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Security & Conflict

WHAT IS ‘STRATEGIC COMPETITION’ AND ARE WE STILL IN IT?

February 2, 2024

The last two (Trump and Biden) US national security strategies have claimed that the United States is in ‘strategic competition’ (a.k.a., ‘Great Power Competition’) with the autocracies of Russia and the People’s Republic of China. What does the term mean?…

Book Reviews, Regional, Security & Conflict

Beijing’s Global Media Offensive by Joshua Kurlantzick

November 30, 2023

Ahead of the 2023 BRICS Summit in South Africa, the front page of the Cape Times featured two different stories on China which highlighted Beijing’s multifaceted campaign to influence media and shape narratives around the world. The first was a…

Asia Pacific, Book Reviews, North America, Security & Conflict

Cold Rivals: The New Era of US-China Strategic Competition edited by Evan S. Medeiros

November 8, 2023

Evan S. Medeiros offers a useful collection of essays that examine US-China relations from the 1970s towards our more recent, turbulent days. The defining characterization of US-China relations throughout the book is one of “strategic competition” among rivals. This is…

Asia Pacific, Policy & Politics

The Contradictions of the Party-State: China’s Experience with the COVID-19 Pandemic

October 9, 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has reignited the debate regarding the relative merits of democratic, illiberal, and authoritarian rule; specifically, which system has more effectively responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more broadly, which political system has better addressed the expectations (and…

Asia Pacific, Europe, Security & Conflict

A World Historical Perspective on the War in Ukraine and the China-Taiwan Standoff

September 10, 2023

As the world faces a protracted war in Ukraine with no clear end in sight and a tense standoff in the Taiwan Strait with potential for catastrophic escalation, the time is ripe for a world historical perspective on these conflicts,…

Asia Pacific, Economics, Governance & Law, North America, Policy & Politics

How China’s Political System Discourages Innovation and Encourages IP Theft

July 31, 2023

U.S. observers have long complained that Chinese firms steal intellectual property (IP) from American companies, universities, and research institutions.¹ Most of these complaints stress that the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) directs this theft. Other analysts focus…

Asia Pacific, Economics, Energy & Environment, Europe

Unveiling Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) Challenges: The Potential Dispute Between China and EU

July 24, 2023

In December 2022, the European Union (EU) approved a green tax on carbon-intensive commodities called the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). It aims at reducing carbon leakage, a phenomenon in which manufacturers move carbon-intensive production to countries with laxer climate…

Economics, Governance & Law, Middle East, Policy & Politics, Regional, Security & Conflict, Topical

Book Review: Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers by Yan Xuetong

April 17, 2023

David B. Kanin is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Review of: Yan Xuetong, Leadership and the Rise of Great Powers, (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2019, pp. 262). What follows is a…

Asia Pacific, North America, Policy & Politics, Security & Conflict

Will Biden’s New Truman Doctrine Offset the Sino-Russian Pact?

June 20, 2022

During his maiden trip to Asia as president in late May 2022, Joe Biden implied that the United States would take stronger military action to defend Taiwan against China than his administration has taken to support Ukraine to fight against…

Asia Pacific, North America, Policy & Politics, Security & Conflict

How to Weaken the China-Russia Axis: Historical Lessons from Great-Power Competition

June 2, 2022

Key Judgments Growing ties between Moscow and Beijing threaten US national security. American strategic planners should consider undermining these ties as a strategic imperative. This goal remains achievable if pursued with vigor because Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has…