The Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to various new, repurposed or newly popular terms. The newest entry to the pandemic lexicon might be “vaccine diplomacy,” with some countries using their vaccines to strengthen regional ties and enhance their own power and global status.
Read Here | Asia Times
Given that the banks of the Pangong Lake mark only two of several areas of friction in the current standoff … both China and India’s state-sanctioned media offensives could very well scuttle future progress on comprehensively ending the standoff, either by letting public opinion get in its way or by inadvertently signalling to the other side that negotiating concessions are tactical at best, or are not in good faith, at worse.
Read Here | The Diplomat
As the trade war between the world’s two largest economies nears the end of its first week, its most unsettling fact may be this: No one seems to foresee any clear path to peace. The United States insists that China abandon the brass-knuckles tactics it’s used to try to supplant America’s technological dominance. Yet Beijing isn’t about to drop its zeal to acquire the technology it sees as crucial to its prosperity.
Read Here | China Times
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the United States to scrap tariffs on Chinese imports and remove restrictions on the tech sector, laying out conditions for restoring damaged China-US relations. Wang told a forum in Beijing that relations were at a critical point and the US must review its policy if ties were to be repaired after the damage of the former Donald Trump administration.
Read Here – South China Morning Post
When the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” was articulated by the Trump administration, India rightly had concerns about the “Indo.” Did it mean India or the Indian Ocean? If the former, it would be received as a dialectal ploy to pressure India to play a larger role in East and Southeast Asian security affairs. If it meant Indian Ocean, it could signify greater U.S. recognition of the rising security challenges India sees in its maritime neighborhood.
Read Here | CSIS
President Joe Biden entered the White House determined to restore the world’s confidence in the United States. That task is particularly important in the Indo-Pacific, a region that has become as central to geopolitics as Europe was during the Cold War. The United States’ presence, influence, and credibility in the region are flagging, and restoring them will require Biden to climb out of a deep hole.
Read Here | Foreign Affairs
The United States government does not yet have a constructive strategy for the internet. Contrary to what the last four years have messaged—that the United States is in a zero-sum technology competition with China and expelling and excluding Chinese technology is the best response—a vision for the internet that does little more than say “no” to China is not a purposeful strategy.
Read Here | The National Interest
In the age of great-power competition, where the world doesn’t simply do what the United States asks, action must match rhetoric. Arguably, action matters even more than words, because America’s competitors don’t care what it has to say.
Read Here | The National Interest
As rising Chinese investment promises to boost Pakistan’s ailing economy in an hour of need, there are concurrent nationalistic concerns expressed by local businesses and groups that Chinese investors are cornering key local industries, state assets and businesses to the detriment of Pakistani players and interests.
Read Here | Asia Times
There are many reasons to worry about the U.S. dollar’s underlying economic fundamentals. However, before despairing that America is well on the way to a dollar crisis a person might want to ask two questions. First, does the dollar have any serious rival to displace it as the world’s international reserve currency? Second, would the dollar not fare well in the event that today’s global everything asset and credit market bubble were to burst?
Read Here | The National Interest
