The BRICS group wrapped up its two-day leaders’ summit in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. The summit’s final communique is a 16,000-word doorstop that covers numerous issues from economics to education.
The communique avoids any direct mention of the United States, and references to “unilateralism” and other coded criticism are also relatively scarce. Rather, the communique keeps the focus on the BRICS’ vision of the strengthening and reform of the global multilateral system ...
Category: Foreign Policy
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 ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Trump’s New Africa Policy Focuses on Deals… and China
U.S. foreign policy towards Africa has been totally upended since Donald Trump returned to power earlier this year. Gone are the decades-old humanitarian programs that have been replaced by a new strategy that focuses on expanding U.S. commercial ties and countering ...
Chinese Perspectives on Trump’s Middle East Tour
By Giorgia Facchini From May 13 to May 16, Donald Trump embarked on his first major international trip of his second term, a four-day tour of the Gulf, with the U.S. President visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates ...
China Tops Favorability Rankings in Africa, Outpacing U.S. and EU, New Survey Shows
China is viewed more positively than any other global or regional power in Africa, according to a new survey conducted across 29 countries by Afrobarometer, the continent’s leading public opinion measurement agency. The findings, released this week, show that 60 percent ...
Philippine Defense Chief in Testy Exchange at Shangri-La Dialogue
Gilberto Teodoro, the Defense Secretary of the Philippines, got into a tense back-and-forth with Chinese officials at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday. During a plenary session, two People’s Liberation Army officers asked him if Manila would adopt a friendlier attitude to China or serve as a U.S. ...
Indonesia’s Prabowo Calls for Closer Ties With China While Signaling Drift From the United States
At a moment when many middle-power states are intentionally avoiding rhetoric that could draw their countries into the rivalry between the United States and China, Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto went the other way this weekend with a full-throated embrace of Beijing that also appeared intended to send a powerful ...
China Brokers Diplomatic Upgrade Between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Extends CPEC
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that Pakistan and Afghanistan would elevate their ties, following an informal meeting between Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in Beijing. The two countries agreed to deploy ambassadors and ...
Pakistani FM Visit to China Could Raise Indian Anxieties
Security will likely feature prominently during Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to China. Dar will be in China until Wednesday, his first foreign trip since Pakistan’s recent conflict with India. He will meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, and ...