What It Would Take to Defeat Both China and Russia When it comes to international relations, 2022 has been an exceptionally dangerous year. During the first two months, Russia massed thousands of troops along Ukraine’s borders. At the end of the second one, Moscow sent them marching into Ukraine. China, …
Read More »5 Takeaways From China’s Big Leadership Announcement
The 20th Party Congress has closed, with Xi Jinping’s grip on power even tighter than expected. After years of speculation, the 20th Party Congress has closed, and the new Central Committee elected the members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the men who will rule China for the next five years. …
Read More »BAKU DIALOGUES: POLICY PERSPECTIVES ON THE SILK ROAD REGION
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Armenia in September 2022 caused some limited geopolitical commotion, as most readers of Baku Dialogues are keenly aware. Without downplaying its regional significance in the slightest, it was, however, her visit to Taiwan in August 2022 that made global …
Read More »China’s Xi ‘More Powerful Than Mao,’ Seen Abandoning Market Reforms – Analysis
Ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s next five years will likely see more hard-line policies out of Beijing on the economy, foreign relations, human rights and public dissent, analysts told RFA. Germany-based ethnic Mongolian rights activist Xi Haiming said the fact that Xi had packed the Politburo Standing Committee …
Read More »The 21st Century’s Great Military Rivalry – Analysis
A quarter-century ago, China conducted what it called “missile tests” bracketing the island of Taiwan to deter it from a move toward independence by demonstrating that China could cut Taiwan’s ocean lifelines. In response, in a show of superiority that forced China to back down, the United States deployed two …
Read More »The Foreign Policy Implications of China’s Twentieth Party Congress
What is happening? The Communist Party of China (CPC) is nearly through its twentieth Party Congress, a key event held twice per decade that signals the direction of Beijing’s domestic and foreign policies. The Congress opened on 16 October with a two-hour speech by President Xi Jinping and will run …
Read More »China’s Xi clinches third term, packs leadership team with loyalists
China’s Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. Shanghai Communist Party chief Li Qiang, 63, followed Xi onto the stage at the Great Hall of …
Read More »China reaffirms Xi’s dominance, removes No. 2 Li Keqiang
China’s ruling Communist Party reaffirmed President Xi Jinping’s continued dominance in running the nation Saturday, one day ahead of giving him a widely expected third five-year term as leader. A party congress effectively removed Premier Li Keqiang from senior leadership. Li, the nation’s No. 2 official, is a proponent of …
Read More »Is Xi Jinping China’s new Mao Zedong?
With Xi casting himself as a 21st-century Mao, China risks ‘arbitrary rule’. Vastness is a defining feature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It has more than 96 million members, and the party’s official list of heroes and martyrs counts two million names of those remembered for their storied lives …
Read More »Xi’s Rhetoric On Taiwan At Party Congress Must Worry The World – Analysis
President Xi Jinping kicked off the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) National Congress, which charts its policy trajectory for the next five years and finalises its future leadership, with an address to the Party faithful for nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes. This year, the CCP’s leadership conclave comes amidst a …
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