News
-
With Mattis Gone, What Ahead for US-China Military Ties in 2019?
US President Donald Trump’s first appointed secretary of defense, James Mattis, has resigned. Despite the president’s claim on Twitter that Mattis was retiring, his resignation letter makes clear that his departure is effectively one borne of long-term ideological disagreements with Trump and his “America first” foreign policy agenda. The proximal cause, while not stated by Mattis himself, appears to be…
-
CHINA EXPECTS A LARGE NUMBER OF ITS NEW GENERATION WEAPONS TO ARRIVE IN 2019: REPORT
Beijing has endeavored to obtain new generation weaponry in almost all military areas, investing billions in research and in the production of new models of battleships, missiles, aircraft and submarines. Many of them are arriving for the tests or will even be responsible for next year. Naval power The Army of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is one of the…
-
Nepal not part of US’ Indo-Pacific strategy: Minister Gyawali
Nepal is not part of America’s Indo-Pacific strategy despite the Himalayan nation’s central role in the region, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has said. Gyawali returned to Nepal on Saturday after wrapping up his five-day visit to the US during which he held talks with his American counterpart Mike Pompeo on a range of issues. “We discussed Nepal’s…
-
America Competes With China’s Belt and Road
Under the Trump administration, US response to China’s OBOR is more coherent and comprehensive than in the past, expert says WASHINGTON—China’s One Belt, One Road initiative is one of the world’s most ambitious and controversial development programs. Under the Trump administration, the United States is rolling out new infrastructure projects and other initiatives in the Asia-Pacific in an effort to…
-
Working with China is more beneficial than fighting it
It appears the political and security elites in the United States are preparing for an OK Corral-type s howdown with China. On December 1, the US Justice Department asked (some would argue pressured) Canada to arrest Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, on a provisional warrant. It went on to charge two Chinese government employees…
-
China: Averse to hegemony – Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal
China has been pursuing an ambitious economic agenda without flexing its military muscle in its neighbourhood and worldwide. Instead of coercion, it has been engaging the neighbouring states by mega-financial investment, encouragement of economic cooperation, and mutual infrastructure projects. It is transferring technology and financing projects in the smaller states. This benign internationalists approach has been increasing China’s influence regionally…
-
Is China ready to become the next global leader?
In a speech to mark China’s 40th anniversary of economic liberalization, the Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the ‘opening up of the economy’ was “a great revolution in the history of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation”. He further said a quantum leap has been made in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics. “In 40 years, China…
-
How the U.S. and China can reset relations and get results
Jane Harman, president of the Wilson Center, represented California in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she served as ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. If China and the United States had Facebook accounts, their relationship status would be “it’s complicated.” And it’s gotten more complicated with the sudden resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, someone the Chinese admired,…
-
China tiff about more than trade, economist says
PULLMAN, Wash. — More observers are beginning to realize the U.S.-China trade war isn’t about trade but who controls the world, says a retired Washington State University agricultural economist who once headed a USDA-sponsored China study group. The U.S. has the economic power to win its trade war with China but lacks the political perseverance, and trade between the two…
-
Xi Jinping’s year in diplomacy: from butting heads with Donald Trump to cosying up to Rodrigo Duterte
The major tête-à-têtes between Xi and world leaders have been portrayed in Chinese state media as significantly bolstering his presence abroad in what was glowingly termed “heads of state” diplomacy. But China’s increasing international footprint – including Xi’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative – has also faced an increasing pushback, from concerns about debt trap diplomacy to unease about…
-
Forget the Thucydides Trap – a ‘rising’ China has no desire to go to war with the US, and Washington needs to dispel its paranoia
As China commemorates the 40th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations with the United States, the arrest of Meng Wanzhou – the CFO of one of China’s top technology companies, Huawei, by Canadian authorities on behalf of the US – appears to vindicate the Thucydides Trap thesis that the US and China may be locked into a path to war. Professor…
-
US Defense Chief’s Resignation Stirs Doubts in Asia about Help Resisting China
TAIPEI — U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis visited Vietnam twice this year and suggested in October stronger relations as China bears down on Vietnamese maritime claims. In the Philippines a month later, Mattis swore to uphold a decades-old military alliance that helps Manila resist China. A U.S. naval ship passes through the South China Sea every couple of months or…