Analysis
Diverse voices, unique insights on key issues shaping China’s engagement throughout the Global South.
analysis
“The Mekong is Dying”: How China’s River Diplomacy Neglects Locals, Exacerbates Climate Change
The rainy season would usually start in May, but this was late June and it was still not raining much. Niwat Roykaew, who grew up on the bank of the Mekong River in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province, noticed. Born and ...
Q&A: China’s New Global Initiatives? What Are Its Goals and How Does It Affect the Middle East and Israel?
In the past two years, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced three global initiatives: the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative. To understand the nature of the initiatives and their consequences for the Middle East we spoke with researcher Tuvia Gering, a ...
China Looms Large As ASEAN Foreign Ministers and Key Outside Powers Gather in Jakarta
Foreign ministers from the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are gathering in Jakarta with their counterparts from China, the U.S., Russia and beyond, for an intense week of ministerial meetings that will focus on some of the most contentious disputes in the world. ...
Why a Chinese Province’s Trade Plans Could Be a Game-Changer for Africa
“The United States is ‘all in’ on Africa’s future.” This was the line from President Joe Biden at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in December. This linking of Africa and “future” is a tic of our time. It play-acts inclusivity while deftly stepping past the fact that ...
U.S. Seeks to Bolster Ties in the Caribbean to Fend Off Chinese Advance
Top diplomats from China and the U.S. were in the Caribbean at the same time in what's widely seen as the newest front in the escalating geopolitical competition between the two major powers. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in
Why China’s Global South Diplomacy Is Such a Challenge for the United States
Remember when poor countries didn’t matter? Those halcyon days when an American president could call them shitholes and nobody would mind? Those days have just ended. In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal broke a story in June that ...
A New Chapter of ‘Going out’ in the Making?
By Lukas Fiala Walking through the halls at the Paris Air Show, the world’s largest aerospace exhibition, last week demonstrated once more the emergence of a novel chapter of China’s global outreach: high-tech aeronautics and aerospace cooperation. From the Aviation Industry ...
Reflecting On China-Cambodia’s Dara Sakor Project, 15 Years In
It was 2008 when the Cambodian government appointed the Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG), a subsidiary of Wanlong Group based in Tianjin, to build a $3.8 billion mega project in Dara Sakor. UDG was equipped with a 99-year lease and was ...
Southeast Asia Inches Closer to China to Survive Harsh Heat Waves
Extreme high temperatures — a ‘once-in-200-years heat wave’ — have been hitting many Asian countries in recent weeks, including those in Southeast Asia. Experts said that it is only the beginning of an era that will see more frequent heat waves and other erratic weather.
Israeli PM Netanyahu’s Visit to China Widely Seen as a Message for Joe Biden
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Tuesday he will travel to Beijing next month to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Prime Minister's office batted away arguments in the Israeli media that the visit is intended to pique the White House ...
Netanyahu May be Going to China to Boost His Political Standing at Home, Says Israeli Scholar
The political calculations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made in agreeing to accept President Xi Jinping's invitation to visit may be far more nuanced than the prevailing narratives in the Israeli and U.S. media, which largely frame it around annoying Joe Biden.
Sri Lankan President Upbeat About Debt Deal Amid Geopolitical Pressure
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe confirmed that Sri Lanka plans to announce a plan to deal with its domestic debt this week, in line with IMF benchmarks. In an interview with France24, he dismissed fears that China is delaying the process, after Chinese creditors didn’t join official debt talks in April. ...