Category: Foreign Policy
On Unearned Wins and the Future of the Liberal International Order
Chinese President Xi Jinping this week provided a lesson in how to get the maximum international gain by doing the bare minimum. In his speech at the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, he said the Israel-Gaza war “should not continue indefinitely” and “justice should not be absent forever.” ...
China-Africa Summit to Take Place September 3-8, According to Uganda Foreign Ministry
It appears Chinese ambassadors across Africa were given the go-ahead to notify their host governments that the upcoming Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit will take place from September 3rd to the 8th. The Uganda Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a ...
Serbian Media on Xi Jinping’s Visit to Belgrade
In this edition of the ChinaMed Observer, we analyze the Serbian media debate on relations with China on the occasion of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Belgrade. By Anja Duvnjak and Leonardo Bruni ...
Kenya’s Chinese Debt to be on the Agenda When Ruto Arrives in Washington
Kenyan President William Ruto will arrive in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, the midway point of a four-day visit to the United States that will include talks with President Joe Biden. U.S. officials said in advance of Ruto's arrival that debt relief ...
Franco-Chinese Joint Statement Reflects Subtle, Yet Important Shifts in Beijing’s Stance on the Israel-Hamas War
France and China published a joint statement this week on "the situation in the Middle East" that contained a number of important policy shifts in Beijing's approach to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since ...
The Complications of Iran-China Relations
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to France provides an interesting moment to reflect on both the reality of China-Iran relations and how these are seen from the outside. European leaders like EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen see China as
Macron Shows the Way in How a G7 Country Can Cooperate With China
Senior U.S. officials like to offset their frequent criticisms of China by saying they seek to compete with Beijing when necessary and cooperate "in areas of shared interest." While areas of competition are quite evident, finding "shared interests" is proving to ...
Wang Yi Wraps Diplomatic Blitz With South American Foreign Ministers
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded a four-day diplomatic sprint with a trio of his counterparts from strategically vital countries in South America. All three foreign ministers from Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru were in Beijing for separate meetings with senior Chinese ...
Words Come Easy, Action Does Not: China in the Context of Sudan
By Felix Brender Earlier this month, media and commentators briefly shifted their hyperfocus from conflicts that fit into an easy-to-grasp Disney-style good/bad binary to “one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory:” the consequences of the most recent round of sectarian ...
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Shifts Beijing’s Diplomatic Focus From Mideast Back to Asia-Pacific
After dedicating much of the first part of the week to the escalating crisis in the Middle East following Iran's missile strike against Israel, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is now shifting his attention back to the Asia-Pacific region with a three-nation, six-day tour. ...
Scholar’s Comments Hint That China May Not Have Expected Iran to Strike Israel
One of China's leading foreign policy scholars appeared on national TV last week and firmly declared that Iran would not launch a direct strike on Israel in response to Israel's bombing of the Iranian embassy in Syria. Dong Manyuan, a senior ...
How Much of China’s Foreign Policy is About the U.S.?
By Lukas Fiala Over the past week, two conversations with some of our American counterparts reminded me of a perennial question in the China space: How much of China’s foreign policy — broadly conceived — is about the U.S.? At first ...