As a new U.S. president takes office, he faces a determined Chinese leadership that could be further emboldened by America’s troubles at home. The disarray in America, from the rampant COVID-19 pandemic to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol,… Read More ›
The Chinese government hopes Sino-United States relations will get back on track after the Biden administration took office on January 20, but political analysts in Hong Kong and Taiwan are skeptical a drastic shift is in the offing. Hua Chunying,… Read More ›
Most of us were appalled to see what happened in Washington ten days ago when a ‘mob’, incited by Donald Trump’s address, stormed the Capitol building to prevent the presentation of Joe Biden as the next President. He gave voice… Read More ›
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be looking to reinforce Beijing’s ties with Manila during a two-day visit to the Philippines this week, observers say.His trip comes just a week ahead of the inauguration of US president-elect Joe Biden, who… Read More ›
Over the past two and a half decades multiple problems have been identified in the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement. The process of development of the BiH society has generated some visible achievements that could lead to a stable… Read More ›
China’s impressive economic recovery will continue to attract significant foreign investment throughout 2021, but risks remain – and it won’t be helped by Beijing mocking the recent violence in Washington. After a considerable drop in the first quarter of last… Read More ›
For decades, the United States imposed punishing economic sanctions on Sudan, Iraq, and other states it branded as rogue. Outside of military invasion, trade, financial, and diplomatic sanctions became the primary tools for America and its allies to coerce foreign… Read More ›
It will be recorded in the history of international relations that all countries of the Balkans peninsula, starting from Slovenia to Bulgaria had or have officially applied for membership in the EU and NATO, except for Serbia which has declared… Read More ›
On 30 August 2020, Montenegro held the 11th parliamentary election since the first multi-party election in 1990, and the fifth since Montenegro gained independence in 2006. The turnout was as high as 76.65%. The elections brought an end to the… Read More ›
A major investment pact between China and the European Union, which wrapped up negotiations on the deal this week, has sparked concerns that it will give the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a free pass on human rights and labor standards,… Read More ›
If 2020 was the year of pandemic then 2021 will be the year of creation of new blocks and disruptive technologies. Countries like China will take advantage of a vulnerable world and strengthen their position. This year may go down… Read More ›
A Chinese court handed down a four-year jail term on Monday to a citizen-journalist who reported from the central city of Wuhan at the peak of last year’s coronavirus outbreak in China. The journalist stood accused of “picking quarrels and… Read More ›
When the Brexit vote was taking place in UK in 2016, I was addressing the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents’ Club at a monthly breakfast meeting. When the meeting started it seemed as though the remain vote was winning. However, by the… Read More ›
These days, many argue that our Covid-19 (C-19) response is a planetary fiasco, whose size is yet to surface with its mounting disproportionate and enduring secondary effects, causing tremendous socio-economic, political and psychosomatic contractions and convulsions. But worse than our… Read More ›
The United States has imposed export controls on dozens of Chinese companies, including the country’s biggest chipmaker SMIC, restricting its access to US technology over its alleged ties to China’s military. The announcement on Friday, in the final weeks of… Read More ›
Public support for Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam and her top officials has fallen further in recent weeks, with pollsters citing the freezing of the bank accounts of a former opposition lawmaker and his family as a key factor…. Read More ›
Joe Biden’s not in the White House yet, but Beijing is already targeting his circle — even those close to them. Let’s hope that pushes the next president to rethink his out-of-date approach to the Communist colossus. China plays a… Read More ›
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the elections of local authorities were held on 15 November 2020. The results of the local elections are a prelude into tectonic changes on the political scene of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The wave of political… Read More ›
New guidelines mean that China’s 92 million party members will be limited to one-month, single-entry U.S. permits — if the State Department can figure out who they are. The Trump administration on Wednesday issued new rules to curtail travel to… Read More ›
U.S.-China relations have been on a generally downward trajectory since it became apparent during the later Obama years that America’s longstanding policy of diplomatic and economic engagement had failed to bring China around to embrace democratic institutions or accept the… Read More ›
The second decade of the 21st century put the geoeconomic emphasis and cooperation within the framework of China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative into the China – East European states relations. China’s “One belt, One road” initiative today creates prerequisites… Read More ›
As the present world order weakens, the mega confrontations have appeared more likely: On its post-Soviet revival quest, Russia becomes increasingly assertive in Euro-MED theatre and beyond. The Sino-American relations are increasingly adversarial, with escalating frictions over trade, advanced technology,… Read More ›
Joseph Biden (D) is a veteran of the political scene in the United States of America. Over half a century he held senior positions in the American political life starting from the Senate all the way to the position of… Read More ›
The New York Times explained why they published an article (NYT Nov 24) written by FU Ying, former vice-foreign minister of China (2009-13) as follows: “… Today, we are publishing an Op-Ed by Fu Ying, a government official in China,… Read More ›
The current landscape of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), after all the political, military and geopolitical evolutions the Arab world went through during the last two decades provides the image of a venue placed at the centre of… Read More ›
It’s been 20 years since the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was first held. Another summit is planned for September 2021 in Dakar, Senegal. Meanwhile, Chinese and African officials are reviewing and reflecting on their two-decade relationship. China’s growing engagement with… Read More ›
US sanctions on Iran have certainly turned Iran to Russia and China that the US regards as its major strategic competitors. According to Foreign Affairs’s article “China and Russia Have Iran’s Back” on November 17, 2020, Iran regards China as… Read More ›
At least three moves have been made by Beijing in its anticipation of the U.S. post-election chaos and paralysis. On June 16, my essay “As ‘not-re-elected’ Trump may refuse to quit, Beijing is preparing for US chaos” suggested that Beijing… Read More ›
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning Americans from investing in Chinese firms that the administration says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military. The order applies to 31 Chinese companies which it says “enable the development… Read More ›
China will strike back against any moves that undermine its core interests, its foreign ministry said on Friday, after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Taiwan “has not been a part of China”. China calls Taiwan the most… Read More ›
Britain and the European Union on Thursday condemned China’s move to disqualify fourpro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong — an action that has led to the mass resignation of the opposition in the city’s legislature. The move follows the approval on… Read More ›
President Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud and conspiracies against him are dominating right-wing media as his supporters attempt to come to terms with an almost certain election defeat. But while the president and his fans are struggling to… Read More ›
As the present world order weakens, the mega confrontations have appeared more likely: On its post-Soviet revival quest, Russia becomes increasingly assertive in Euro-MED theatre and beyond. The Sino-American relations are increasingly adversarial, with escalating frictions over trade, advanced technology,… Read More ›
The title of these comments is inspired by my personal experience in important areas of public policy both as a politician beginning in the 1970s and more recently as Secretary General of the OECD from 1996 until 2006. That was… Read More ›
Throughout the end of September and till the Taiwan National Day on 10 October, China conducted provocative fighter maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait along with Naval exercises in the South China Sea. While the world was focused on these developments… Read More ›
Views of China have grown more negative in recent years across many advanced economies, and unfavorable opinion has soared over the past year, a new 14-country Pew Research Center survey shows. Today, a majority in each of the surveyed countries… Read More ›
The Chinese government has repeatedly warned American officials that they could possibly detain United States nationals in China due to the Justice Department’s prosecution of Chinese military-affiliated scholars, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. The sources… Read More ›
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), was a French military leader and emperor. Napoleon rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799) at a very rapid rate. He seized political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état and… Read More ›
Confrontation with China is reaching fever pitch in many Western countries. Clashes over trade, the South China Sea, COVID-19, and Huawei’s role in 5G development all signify a growing appetite for a new Cold War with Beijing. But while there… Read More ›
Negative opinions about China have soared among countries and reached a record high for most of the 14 countries polled, according to a recent Pew Research Center. Negative views of China reached their “highest points” in 9 of those countries… Read More ›
A Taiwan Strait civil war is what Washington hopes for. A first gun shot from Taipei is what Beijing hopes for. A direct military participation from the U.S. is what Taipei hopes for. It is the waiting game all have… Read More ›
On July 1st 2020, a large number of international affairs specialists gathered in Vienna, Austria, for the conference “From Victory Day to Corona Disarray: 75 Years of Europe’s Collective Security and Human Rights System”. The conference, jointly organized by four… Read More ›
THE MOTHER OF ALL DEALS In a recent development in July 2020, Iran-China inked a $400 billion deal. This is a 25-year pact: Iran doesn’t gain much from the deal, other than immediate relief from the American sanctions. Which would… Read More ›
As the global geopolitical sphere shapes up into a battleground between the US and China, Europe will have to ally either an erratic Donald Trump or a dubious Xi Jinping. The bright side of the Sino-European relationship Trade between the… Read More ›
As Tropical Storm Higos blew in from the Pacific, Stephen Stanek, a covert CIA operative, faced a decision. It was time to either cancel the operation he was running or go forward with it. The storm was barreling through the… Read More ›
Today at a broader diplomatic and strategic level, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a symbol of China’s growing importance in international affairs, changing regional dynamics in geographical areas close to or even within Europe. At the most… Read More ›
India’s budding relationship with Israel has now blossomed under the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India forged diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, 42 years after recognizing it as a country. During these 4 decades, India was chained by… Read More ›
As the EU navigates an increasingly Sino-American world, it finally sees the need to stand together, even against Beijing. China’s diplomats were already having a terrible year in Europe, but this week they managed to make it even worse. At… Read More ›
“An act of international treachery” was how China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi described Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil’s official visit to Taiwan this week. Amid a broad downturn of Beijing’s relations with Europe, the trip is certain to impact more… Read More ›
HOW TO DEAL WITH A TYRANT The war with China is a certainty. Whether it would be with India or any other country in the South China Sea, only time would tell. However, since the initiative has been taken by… Read More ›
