Premier Li Keqiang’s grip on power is weakened by proposed amendments to laws governing the organization and functioning of the National People’s Congress (NPC) to enable its Standing Committee, while the NPC plenum is in recess, to appoint deputy premiers on the recommendations of the Communist Party’s central leadership. Read Here | Asia Times
US President Joe Biden will not rescind Donald Trump’s tariffs on imported Chinese goods for China’s benefit. But he has three stronger reasons to do so: The measures have hurt American workers and firms, failed to reduce the overall US trade deficit, and arguably further weakened respect for global economic rules. Read Here | Project […]
Health-related development assistance has long offered Chinese pharmaceutical companies a low-cost means of expanding their market share in the developing world. In March 2020, President Xi explicitly linked the shipment of medical supplies overseas to the “Health Silk Road,” now an important component of the Belt and Road Initiative. Read Here | Foreign Affairs
One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has seen death, economic hardship and anxiety on an unprecedented scale. But it has also witnessed self-sacrifice, courage and perseverance. In India, Brazil, South Africa and other places around the globe, people are helping others and reinventing themselves. Read Here | APNews
The catchword “rejuvenation” has been tucked into the major speeches at China’s biggest political event of the year, the meeting of its 3,000-member legislature. It encapsulates the ruling Communist Party’s overriding long-term objective: To build the nation into a truly global power, one that commands respect from the rest of the world. Read Here | […]
While it may be difficult today for one nation to control the entire expanse of the Indian Ocean the way the British, French, or Portuguese empires did during the colonial period, the strategic significance of the Indian Ocean remains the same. Read Here | CEIP
On March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, few could foresee the long road ahead or the many ways in which they would suffer — the deaths and agonies of millions, the ruined economies, the disrupted lives and near-universal loneliness and isolation. Read Here | APNews
China is applying the same strategy on the roof of the world that has driven its expansion in the South China Sea: gradual territorial encroachments followed by militarised construction. So far, this slice-by-slice approach is proving just as effective on land as it has been at sea. Read Here | Project Syndicate
With his $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, Biden is set to juice the economy for the next two years. The legislation includes a raft of measures that ensure a return to the era of big government, something that American voters appear to object to in theory but not in practice. It’s both an economic and political victory for […]
The information revolution has seeded a growing ecosystem of open-source intelligence services. Firms such as Recorded Future, DigitalGlobe, and McKinsey offer not only intelligence-like products, such as news aggregation and data analytics, but also such services as on-demand overhead satellite imagery and long-term strategic forecasting that were previously the purview of governments alone. Read Here […]
looking beyond borders 