The major Indo-Pacific powers of Australia, India, Japan and the United States concluded on Friday the first-ever summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, better known as “Quad.” The 90-minute event, conducted virtually due to Covid-19 restrictions, paves the way for a de facto “Asian NATO” amid growing concern over China’s increasingly assertive behaviour in recent […]
After last year’s much-publicised spat between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — culminating with Riyadh’s demand for early repayment of $3 billion in loans meant to shore up Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves — tensions between the two countries have since cooled. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia appear to be in the midst of a reset of relations. Read Here | […]
The United States and China have started debating the agenda for their meeting in Alaska on March 18, with both sides trading recriminations over human rights, trade and other rancorous issues. On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US condemns China’s continuing assault on democratic institutions in Hong Kong. Read Here | […]
As countries scramble to secure supplies in the face of “vaccine apartheid,” India has enhanced its global standing by making vaccines that are readily available in the world’s poorest countries. This effort may one day help India secure recognition as a global power – with a permanent UN Security Council seat to go with it. […]
From now on, every country or group of countries must ask itself whether it produces the technologies it needs or has guaranteed, unfettered, long-term access to them. A country that answers no is vulnerable to technological coercion that is no less severe than the military coercion of yesteryear. Read Here | Project Syndicate
Some twenty years after arriving in Afghanistan, the United States faces difficult choices. Should Washington proceed with a military withdrawal, as it pledged to do by May 1 in an accord struck with Afghanistan’s opposition leaders last year? Read Here | The National Interest
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
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
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
Predictions that Russia or China would take the lead in the fight against the pandemic have not panned out. Instead, countries around the world are clamouring for forging new trade, technological, and health alliances with the United States. Read Here | The National Interest
