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China Backed Bali MRT Goes Underground for Tradition

Bali’s first-ever subway project is moving closer to reality, with officials favoring underground tunnels over elevated tracks to respect the island’s religious and cultural landscape. The $20 billion plan is being developed in partnership with China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) ...

It’s Africa+1 Summit Season in Asia

African ministers and senior policymakers will be zipping across Asia for the next two weeks to attend a series of so-called "Africa+1 events" that began in Japan last weekend and continue in Indonesia early next week and then on to Beijing for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation ...

Xi Jinping’s Summit Tour Continues to APEC in Thailand

This week’s carnival of summitry continues with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meeting in Bangkok. While many leaders - including China’s President Xi Jinping - are continuing straight to Thailand from the G20 summit in Bali earlier this week, U.S. President Joe Biden won’t be there. Vice President ...

China-Mexico Love-In at the G20

Even as the G20 summit focused on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s high-profile meetings, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his Mexican counterpart Marcelo Ebrard. While the full agenda of their meeting wasn’t released, China’s Foreign Ministry said, “Ebrard expressed his gratitude to ...

It May Not Look Like Much, But This Handshake Between Xi and Modi is a Big Deal

They looked at each other, smiled, shook hands for an uncomfortably long time, and even exchanged a few pleasantries. It may not look like much, but this brief interaction between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

BRICS Announces Numerous New Initiatives

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 ...

Africa in the Background as Geopolitics Dominate the G20 

The G20 summit in Bali is firmly focused on great power politics, with few Global South issues getting any oxygen so far.  The meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping unsurprisingly dominated the coverage. ...

Biden in Asia Moves to Bolster the U.S. Against China

U.S. President Joe Biden landed on the Indonesian island of Bali late Sunday night ahead of the G20 leaders' summit, where he is also expected to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Monday's meeting between the two leaders will be the first time they have met in person since President ...

Why Xi and Modi Should (and Shouldn’t) Meet on the Sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali

While much of the attention this week at the G20 summit in Bali will be on Monday's meeting between the U.S. and Chinese presidents, in South Asia, many observers will be keeping a close watch on what happens between Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.