Italy has announced its formal withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative after joining the China-centered infrastructure and investment project in 2019.
The timing of the announcement that Rome won’t renew its BRI commitment is notable. It came only a day before the EU-China summit, which kicks off on Thursday. The summit will likely be more contentious than usual, with European leaders expected to push China on the treatment of EU firms amid discussions ...
Category: View From Washington
Hal Brands on the Politics of “America’s Absurd Pledge to Defend a Decaying Rust Bucket”
The confrontation between China and the Philippines over disputed territory in the South China Sea is getting very little attention in the United States, where everyone is much more focused on the war in Gaza and former President Donald Trump's ongoing trial in New York.
“Whining is Not Competing,” Says Top DC Foreign Policy Scholar in Response to Biden’s BRI Remarks
U.S. President Joe Biden's latest criticism of China's Belt and Road Initiative as a "debt and confiscation program" triggered an intense debate in Washington's foreign policy community over whether it was merited. Soon after the President made the remarks during a ...
Taiwan, Not South China Sea is the Real Reason Behind the Expanding U.S. Military Presence in the Philippines, Says Prominent Chinese Analyst
This month's massive 17,000-strong joint U.S.-Philippines military exercises code-named Balikatan (Tagalog for "shoulder-to-shoulder") focused a lot of attention on drills in the South China/West Philippine Sea. The U.S. has deployed considerable military force to the South China Sea region in recent ...
U.S. Analysts, Scholars Skeptical About the Benefits to Honduras From Ties With China
Honduran officials maintain that the decision to abandon ties with Taiwan in favor of China was an economic decision inspired by the hope of boosting Chinese trade and investment. But a number of U.S.-based scholars and analysts caution that those hopes ...
Chinese Scholars Attribute Iran-Saudi Arabia Pact to Declining U.S. Influence in the Mideast and Beijing’s Personal Diplomacy
Chinese Mideast specialists were quicker than usual in weighing in on Friday's Persian Gulf deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Broadly speaking, most scholars attributed China's success in finalizing the agreement to President Xi Jinping's commitment to "personal diplomacy" since 2014 ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
Awkward Timing as Italy Withdraws from BRI
The U.S. Doesn’t Seem Sure of What to Make of the China-Brokered Deal
Publicly, the White House says it supports anything that "de-escalates tensions" in the Mideast. Privately, there's probably a lot more teeth-gnashing going on in the corridors of the National Security Council (NSC.) This is because the deal gives China a huge diplomatic win while also bolstering Washington's ...
U.S. Conservatives Blast Biden for Iran-Saudi Arabia Deal, Say It Highlights American Decline
Conservative U.S. lawmakers and the right-wing media reacted strongly to the news that China had brokered a restoration of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia on Friday, blaming President Joe Biden for what they say is more evidence of the administration's failed foreign policy:
Gyude Moore: Future of Global Development Finance System at Risk if China Wins Stand-off With IMF, World Bank
If China is successful in its effort to force multilateral development banks (MDB) like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to accept the same kind of writedowns (known as 'haircuts') on loans to poor countries as other lenders, it would endanger the entire global development ...
Israel is Becoming the Role Model For How the U.S. Wants Its Allies to Deal With China, Says Foreign Policy Expert
Israel is emerging as a role model for how the United States wants its allies around the world to distance themselves from economic and technical engagement with China, according to Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Institute in a column published ...
China’s Rivals Consider Implications of Possible New PLAN Base in Cambodia
China's reported desire to build a navy facility in Cambodia is prompting careful scrutiny from analysts in rival nations, notably the United States and Taiwan. Ryan Ho Kilpatrick, a reporter at the Taiwan-government-funded media outlet