South East Asia

Much has already been said about the recent heightening of U.S.-China tensions and its potential fallout. What gets less attention is how the U.S. and China themselves perceive the status of their relationship, and how that affects their plans for the future. An analysis of prevailing elite opinion in the …

The admission of Syria into the Chinese economic project is the latest sign of strengthening relations between Damascus and Beijing. Syria has joined a major Chinese initiative on global trade, infrastructure and connectivity. The head of Syria’s Planning and International Cooperation Commission, Fadi al-Khalil, signed a memorandum of understanding with …

It was a year of transition for US trade policy in 2021. The Trump administration’s trade representative Robert Lighthizer was replaced by Katherine Tai, a senior trade lawyer with a history of taking on China. While Tai’s appointment signalled President Joe Biden’s leanings toward a multilateral approach, under her leadership, …

In the past, US dollar and Chinese yuan used to move inversely. Recently, that has not been the case. Dollar is appreciating, and so is yuan. Are the bilateral currencies decoupling? In early December, Chinese business and finance media Caixin reported that Chinese yuan has “broken its traditional relationship with …

For too long, American government and business leaders have sat quietly and allowed China and the Chinese Communist Party to run roughshod over our nation and our values. As Americans see the large number of container ships waiting off the West Coast to unload cargo, they realize that much of …

GCC Secretary General Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf said the five days of meetings will “contribute to enhancing GCC-Chinese relations.” Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman began a visit to China on Monday for five days of meetings aimed at deepening relations between Beijing and the Gulf region, the …

Executive Summary 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 it could cut its ocean lifelines. In response, in a show of superiority that forced China to back down, the U.S. deployed …

An article by Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times last July is a prime example of western intelligentsia’s limited understanding of China’s unhindered rise as a superpower. “Becoming a superpower is a complicated business. It poses a series of connected questions about capabilities, intentions and will,” Rachman wrote. To help …

In November, the US Congress received its annual defense department report outlining military and security developments in China, as mandated by the 2000 National Defense Authorization Act of 2000. The report mainly focuses on the technological aspects of the People Liberation Army’s ongoing expansion and modernization, though areas of engagement …

Beijing Isn’t Just Building Roads—It’s Making Friends When U.S. policymakers consider China’s influence in Africa, they often think of big-ticket infrastructure development programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past two decades, Beijing has spent billions building dams, highways, railways, and ports in countries from Egypt …