As the likelihood of a US-China reset increases despite the distracting drama over President Donald Trump’s White House departure, former intelligence officials and foreign policy analysts are gaming how Beijing could test the mettle of the incoming Biden administration for weakness and opportunity. Read Here | South China Morning Post
Officially, it’s all part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s campaign to eradicate absolute poverty in ethnic minority areas by teaching local people new skills to enable them to increase their incomes and improve their livelihoods. Read Here | Asia Times
The bigger question behind Wang’s charm offensive is of long-term global significance. Can a stable, confident, assertive and economically rising China leverage Japan and South Korea away from a chaotic, self-loathing, self-questioning and economically flailing United States? Read Here | Asia Times
For Biden, the Trump decision was a move he might have made more than ten years ago, when he thought it was his duty to keep a young president from being rolled by the guys with the stars on their shoulders. Read Here | The National Interest
Joe Biden’s presidency amounts to a golden opportunity to initiate a direct and honest dialogue with China on issues that require constructive engagement. But time is of the essence. If Biden begins his term by choosing division over dialogue, changing course will soon become difficult, if not impossible. Read Here | Project Syndicate
Even if vaccine relief to the U.S. economy were to occur by the spring of next year, Yellen will still have to address problems from the pandemic’s serious scarring to the U.S. economy. Read Here | The National Interest
Given the current bipartisan US antipathy toward China, President-elect Joe Biden is unlikely to change the fundamental tenets of President Donald Trump’s hard-line policy. But if Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping each invest a modest amount of political capital, they may be able to de-escalate bilateral tensions. Read Here | Project Syndicate
An initially more modest Asian NATO might start with a budget of less than $1 billion, a small secretariat based in Japan or Australia, and naval-only forces committed on a purely rotational basis. It would send a strong message to China without being explicitly directed against it. Read Here | Foreign Policy
The theory that the pandemic would be bad for populists has not been tested yet in any national elections in Europe, but the amount of support Donald Trump won in the US presidential election shows even a heavily-criticized response to COVID-19 does not necessarily lead to a sharp drop in support for populist politics. Read […]
As convenient as their technology is, the emergence of such dominant corporations should ring alarm bells—not just because they hold so much economic power but also because they wield so much control over political communication. Read Here | Foreign Affairs
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