Category: Geopolitics
Where Will China’s Next Naval Base Be? New Report Lays Out the Options
Amid worries in Washington about the expansion of China’s global military reach, a new report by AidData, a research lab at the College of William and Mary, identifies eight locations for possible future bases. Recent reports that a pier at the Ream ...
Chinese-Funded Naval Base in Cambodia Looks Strikingly Familiar
Cambodia’s Chinese-built Ream naval base is reportedly nearing completion. The base has long been controversial, with U.S. defense officials charging that it could serve as a Chinese naval base. Satellite images show that a pier that could house an aircraft ...
Graph of the Day: How Chinese Demand Is Shifting the Global Soybean Market from the U.S. to Brazil
China is now the largest buyer of Brazil’s soybean crop, as part of a move away from U.S. exports. Chinese buyers have consistently bought large quantities of Brazilian soybeans but are now even putting in orders for delivery in October, traditionally a quiet time in Brazil’s soybean ...
Japanese Foreign Minister to Embark on Six-Nation Tour of South Asia and Africa
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will head out this week on a six-nation Asian and African tour to discuss Tokyo's vision for Global South cooperation. Hayashi said at a press conference on Friday that he will first go to India and ...
Indian Navy Transfers Fully Operational Warship to Vietnam, Adding Yet More Naval Hardware to the South China Sea
The Indian Navy gifted the Vietnam People's Navy with an aging yet still functioning warship on Saturday during a handover ceremony for the INS Kirpan in the central Vietnamese port city of Cam Ranh. The transfer comes one month after Indian Defense ...
China, India, and the Awkwardness of the SCO
By Saniya Kulkarni There has been much scrutiny of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit two weeks ago – especially around the fact that it was entirely virtual. Compelling arguments have been put forth on both sides, the advantages and disadvantages ...
New Philippine Military Head Signals China Focus
The Philippine government announced that its new military chief will be Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., the former head of its army. Brawner’s appointment seems to strengthen the Marcos administration’s hardening towards China in relation to territorial disputes in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea. ...
China Turns to Ex-President Duterte to Try and Salvage Ties With the Philippines
Chinese President Xi Jinping turned to an old friend this week in an effort to repair badly-damaged ties with the Philippines. Xi met with former president Rodrigo Duterte at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Monday in what appeared to ...
Yet Another Failed G20 Debt Gathering
A meeting of finance ministers and central bank heads of the G20 group of leading economies produced few results despite increasingly shrill calls for action to help the roughly 50% of developing countries stalked by debt distress. Progress at the ministerial meeting, ...
Why Did Taiwan’s Foxconn Exit Indian Chip Deal? Chinese Columnist Drops Some Gossip
Earlier in July, the Taiwanese contract electronics maker Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest suppliers, announced it was pulling out of a $19.5 billion deal to produce semiconductors in India. The joint venture between Foxconn and the Indian mining and metals firm Vedanta ...
Disputes Over Borders and Business Dominate China-India Talks
China's top diplomat Wang Yi called on his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar to re-orient their two countries' steadily deteriorating ties away from "specific issues" that Wang feels shouldn't "define the overall relationship." Wang made the request on Friday during talks with ...
South China Sea Ruling Anniversary Adds Pressure to ASEAN Gatherings
Protests in Manila this week marked the seventh anniversary of a Permanent Court of Arbitration tribunal’s finding in favor of a Philippine claim over a stretch of the South China Sea also claimed by China. This comes as a week of ...