In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...
Category: Foreign Policy
Pentagon to Propose Radical Strategic Shift Away From China to Focus on Domestic, Hemispheric Threats: Politico
The Pentagon's top policy planners are proposing a dramatic strategic shift that would redirect the U.S. military's primary focus from countering China and Russia globally to focusing instead on the U.S. homeland and projecting power throughout the Western Hemisphere, according to Politico.
China’s Military Parade Cements Superpower Optics
China displayed a vast array of advanced weapons during a large military parade to mark the 80th commemoration of World War II. The parade snaked down Chang'an Avenue in central Beijing. President Xi Jinping delivered a speech on Tiananmen Square and inspected the soldiers from a parade ...
Top Xi Deputy Takes Unexpectedly High Profile Role at SCO
One of Chinese President Xi Jinping's closest aides, Cai Qi, was uncharacteristically prominent in high-level discussions with visiting leaders this weekend on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin. Cai, Director of the Chinese Communist Party's General Office ...
U.S. Senator Seeks Review of Kenya’s ‘Major Non-NATO Ally’ Status, Citing China Ties
One of Washington's most powerful lawmakers is calling for the State Department to review Kenya's status as a Major Non-NATO Ally in response to Nairobi's close ties with China. U.S. Republican Senator James Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
Chinese Foreign Minister Pledges Support for Brazil in Tariff Fight
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China would support Brazil “in defending its right to development and opposing the bullying practices of arbitrary tariffs,” according to China Daily. He made the comments during a phone call with Celso Amorim, chief advisor to the president of Brazil.
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
China Rejects NATO Head’s Sanctions Threat
China's Foreign Ministry dismissed comments by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte threatening China, India, and Brazil with secondary sanctions for doing business with Russia. Rutte's comments came a day after President Donald Trump announced new weapons allocations for Ukraine and threatened penalties ...
China Criticizes Paraguay on Taiwan
China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the news that the Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te is scheduled to visit Paraguay and Belize in August, a visit that could also see him making stopovers in the United States. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said: “We ...
As U.S. Focus Wavers, Xi Courts the Global South
Chinese President Xi Jinping held separate bilateral meetings with the leaders of Ecuador and Senegal on Friday in what appears to be a concerted effort by Beijing to maintain strong ties with Global South countries, even as major power diplomacy increasingly dominates Beijing's foreign policy agenda.
Vietnam and China Call for Deeper Ties
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, amid ongoing pressure from the United States to loosen the ties between the countries. The two met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions gathering in ...
Bangladesh Joins China-Pakistan Cooperation Framework
China solidified its triangular relationship with Pakistan and Bangladesh at a meeting late last week. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong met with Bangladesh’s Acting Foreign Secretary Ruhul Alam Siddique and Pakistan’s Additional Foreign Secretary for Asia-Pacific Imran Ahmed Siddiqui on the sidelines of the China-South Asia ...
Vietnam Joins BRICS as Tenth Partner Country
Vietnam has been admitted as a partner country of the BRICS group, according to the Government of Brazil on Friday, which holds the 2025 rotating BRICS chair. The Brazilian foreign ministry said, "Vietnam becomes the tenth BRICS partner country, alongside ...
Wang Yi Conducts Speed Diplomacy With Nine African Foreign Ministers
China's top diplomat Wang Yi conducted another one of his signature rounds of speed diplomacy with foreign ministers from at least nine African countries on the sidelines of a ministerial gathering this week in central Hunan province. Specific details of the ...