Lessons From Beirut, Where the Center Ground Is Gone. No one summarized the essence of Beirut better than the late celebrity food writer and chef Anthony Bourdain.
The Mediterranean city he fell in love with was one, he said, “where nothing made any damn sense at all—in the best possible way.” He recommended that everyone visit, to “see how complicated, how deeply troubled, and yet, at the same time, beautiful and awesome the world can be.” Bourdain went beyond the facile clichés of my hometown—that it is the Paris of the Middle East; that it rose like a phoenix after its civil war; that it is treasured for its clubbing and beach parties, its effervescent art and design scene, its food and general joie de vivre. He put his finger on something deeper: “Everything wrong with the world is here.” Russia and China agree to build joint lunar space station. The leaders of the two countries' respective space agencies signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of their national governments.
"China and Russia will use their accumulated experience in space science, research and development as well as the use of space equipment and space technology to jointly develop a road map for the construction of an international lunar scientific research station (ILRS)," China's space agency said. Westlessness: how cracks within NATO signal a new balance of global power. Last week was a reminder of a subject that looked set to define 2020 before the pandemic hit: Westlessness.
China to reveal its five-year (FYP) growth strategy in Xi Jinping era. People wearing masks pass by portraits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, on a street in Shanghai, China February 10, 2020.
Aly Song | Reuters BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping is about to deepen his mark on what could soon be the world’s largest economy. The central committee of China’s ruling Communist Party, led by Xi, is set to meet in Beijing from Oct. 26 to 29 to discuss a proposal for national development for the next five years — from 2021 to 2025. The government sets these economic and social priorities every five years — this year’s discussion is the 14th such plan.
2020 letter. (This piece is my year in review; here’s my letter from 2019) I.
Inspiration It’s difficult to identify a great economic reason to explore space. There are easier ways to extract minerals, doing anything at all is terribly expensive, and Mars is a hard place to make a living. RCEP: Record trade deal shows value of Southeast Asian leadership amid US-China spat. The signing of the RCEP points to the potential power of Southeast Asia’s neutrality amid US-China tensions.
Editorial On November 15, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) became one of the largest free trade agreements in history, with 15 signatory states and ASEAN at its center. Many observers see the deal as a political windfall for China, as it represents a historical step towards multilateralism in Asia and the US and India are nowhere to be seen. Is the Quad's anti-China vision pushing ASEAN away? In the past, the “Quad” of Australia, India, Japan and the United States has been unable to offer ASEAN anything concrete to back up its alleged aim of building a rules-based international order.
As the forum rapidly becomes an anti-China block, it may push ASEAN further away. By Umair Jamal On October 6, top diplomats from Australia, India, Japan and the United States assembled in Tokyo for the second meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue—or “Quad”. How Milk Tea Became an Anti-China Symbol. Read: Where the pandemic is cover for authoritarianism In the months since its April founding, the Milk Tea Alliance has moved into the offline world.
It has spawned the Milk Tea Girls, cutesy Powder Puff–esque animated characters. A newly launched Hong Kong–based Milk Tea Alliance clothing line carries T-shirts with slogans in Thai, English, and Chinese. The owner of the line, Marcus, who asked to be identified by only one name for fear of repercussions from the authorities, told me he hoped the brand would let “people know they are not fighting alone.” (One of the company’s offerings is a blunt, and profane, slogan about loving Hong Kong.) For now, the Milk Tea Alliance is mostly restricted to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand, but activists I spoke with hope to expand that further across Asia.
India’s Lines of Credit to Africa in Health: Opportunity to Build a Key Pillar to the Economy. Across the African continent, there have been several economic success stories built over the last few decades, and accelerated poverty reduction and human development have been considerable as well.
While the direct impact of COVID19 – the “health crisis”- has been lower than feared in Africa, the economic crisis triggered by the lockdowns across the continent has slowed down the journey towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is widely acknowledged that a weak health system has enormous economic costs. However, in the specific context of COVID19, a strong and responsive health system has a key role, not just in the sense of the long-term quality of human capital, but also as a key guarantor of a resilient economy. Lines of Credit as a Key Instrument of India’s Diplomacy In the next five years, India-Africa trade is reportedly expected to touch $ 150 billion. Vietnam's leaps and bounds over 75 years since independence. On the 75th anniversary of Vietnam’s independence, the country’s leaders, foreign officials and experts have spoken highly of the nation’s achievements and its regional and global contributions since 1945.
Sponsored content Leaders of countries around the world, including Cambodia, China, Cuba, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, Singapore and Thailand recently sent messages and letters of congratulations to Vietnamese party and state leaders in honor of the 75th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day on September 2, which commemorates the country’s independence.
They point to a rising global recognition of Vietnam’s fast-growing economy and the country’s active participation in addressing regional and international issues. Although Vietnam has been hit hard by the global pandemic, the country managed to post economic growth of nearly 2% in the first half of this year, with a trade surplus of US$11 billion. Related. U.S. Image Plummets Internationally as Most Say Country Has Handled Coronavirus Badly. This analysis focuses on public opinion of the United States in 13 countries in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Views of the U.S. and its president are examined in the context of long-term trend data. The report also examines how people in other countries perceive America’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and how those perceptions compare to ratings for their own country, the World Health Organization, the European Union and China.
For this report, we use data from nationally representative surveys of 13,273 adults from June 10 to Aug. 3, 2020, in 13 advanced economies. All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Australia, Japan and South Korea. Has the United States lost Southeast Asia to China? Washington wants Southeast Asia to stand up to China to defend the region’s economic and security interests. Will the region’s political leadership adhere to the United States calls? By Umair Jamal US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently said that Southeast Asian nations should stand up to China to defend their maritime interests, assuring them that they can bank on the United States for support. While speaking to a gathering of the foreign ministers of AEAN, Washington’s top diplomat said that “Today, I say keep going. RAND PEA232 1.
Will the UAE-Israel deal change anything in Malaysia? After Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a landmark agreement to normalize relations, it remains unlikely that Malaysia will accept Israel as a state any time soon. But there are promising signs that attitudes are shifting, albeit slowly. By Umair Jamal In an unprecedented development, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to normalize relations after years of discreet contacts.
Time for India to revise its CLMV policy to better engage with ASEAN. While India has stepped up its engagements with ASEAN in the past few years, there remains a clear disparity between its links with different countries. It could address this by boosting its ties with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. By Niranjan Marjani Since 2014, India’s Act East Policy has helped it better engage with Southeast Asian and East Asian countries in economic and strategic areas. Transforming Quad - Trump’s bet on India. [This article is part of the series America on the ballot] Starting from Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’s initial pitch in 2007, its subsequent lull and subsequent revival as Quad 2.0, the anticipation over the mini-lateral grouping has come a full circle. Given China’s recent assertiveness during the coronavirus pandemic, conversations over the Quad biting the bullet on confronting Chinese assertiveness have reemerged.
The great unraveling ushered by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with Beijing’s growing assertiveness on multiple global fronts like the standoff between India and China, have proven to be an inflection point for a restructuring of the US outlook in the Asia-Pacific and by inference even for the Quad. To that end, restoring balance in the Indo-Pacific is imperative to the Quad’s broader goals for the region. Indian frustration with China grows. Iran and China Have Signed a Strategic Pact. That’s Bad News for the West.
A recently leaked document suggests that China and Iran are entering a 25-year strategic partnership in trade, politics, culture, and security. Cooperation between China and Middle Eastern countries is neither new nor recent. Should the US put its military muscle where its mouth is on the South China Sea? This Time, Americans Are Doing Nothing. But if Trump is ridiculous, his administration is invisible. Carl Bildt—a Swedish prime minister in the 1990s, a United Nations envoy during the Bosnian wars, and a foreign minister for many years after that—told me that, looking back on his 30-year career, he cannot remember a single international crisis in which the United States had no global presence at all.
“Normally, when something happens”—a war, an earthquake—“everybody waits to see what the Americans are doing, for better or for worse, and then they calibrate their own response based on that.” This time, Americans are doing … nothing. China's Grand Strategy: Trends, Trajectories, and Long-Term Competition. How China lost central and eastern Europe. Bulgaria became the most recent country from central and eastern Europe (CEE) to show hostility toward China. Russia report: intelligence expert explains how UK ignored growing threat. A paradigm-defining contest with China. 'Global Britain' is in for a rude awakening. Vietnam poised to be big post-pandemic winner - Asia Times. Through early and efficient border closures, uncharacteristic official transparency and strategic Covid-19 diplomacy, communist-run Vietnam is fast emerging as a likely post-pandemic winner.
Geopolitics of a pandemic - Engelsberg Ideas. Liberal Democracy and Its Enemies by Chris Patten. What can Southeast Asia learn from Singapore and its first 'COVID-19 election'? China's Superpower dreams. Britain should not quake before Xi Jinping AEP 200709. The real reason HSBC and Standard Chartered aren't talking. China clamping down on coronavirus research, deleted pages suggest. America’s global leadership at a crossroads. The 53 countries supporting China's crackdown on Hong Kong. US v China: is this the start of a new cold war? Global alliance formed to counter China threat amid rising tensions. Popular resentment confronts China in Zambia. Give Me Stability or Give Me Death – China Channel. First the trade war, then the pandemic. Now Chinese manufacturers are turning inward.
How is COVID-19 restructuring Indonesia's militant landscape? Putin’s Goal Is to Bring Down American Democracy. The Coronavirus Threatens China's Belt and Road Loans. Why Xi won’t repeat Ming Dynasty mistakes - Asia Times. Brings a halt to China's trillion-dollar Belt and Roa. The Coronavirus and Xi Jinping’s Worldview by Kevin Rudd. 2019 Evidence Map Report. Myanmar could be India's gateway to Southeast Asia. Is America’s Fossil Fuel Empire Collapsing? The China-Japan Economic Relationship Is Getting Stronger. Mapped: How Chinese Financing is Fueling the World's Megaprojects. China Icebergs: Forces That Could Reshape the World. China icebergs: Forces that could reshape the world - The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Russia is winning, but here’s the catch Five explanations for the Kremlin’s recent foreign-policy dominance (and why it’s not such a rosy picture after all) Has Russia Discovered a New Foreign Policy Template? An Interview with Angela Stent.
Globalization in Asia: Flows and networks shaping the Asian Century. What China Is Really Up To In Africa. Backlash against Xi's ‘Belt and Road’ could cost China $800 billion: Report. Russia, eyeing Arctic future, launches nuclear icebreaker. Xi Jinping’s Quest to Dominate China. An election in Moscow delivers a firm rebuke to Vladimir Putin - Russian politics. How India’s removal of Article 370 has remade regional politics - Khabarhub English News Khabarhub English News. Hong Kong Shows the Flaws in China’s Zero-Sum Worldview. What’s Really Behind the Fall in China’s GDP? – Brink – The Edge of Risk. China’s great global game. New study uncovers China's massive hidden lending to poor countries. Who will win the US-China Trade War? North Korea took $2 billion in cyberattacks to fund weapons program: U.N. report. How America Can Both Challenge and Coexist With China. Why Japan Still Matters. China must stop fooling itself it is a world leader in science and technology, magazine editor says.
Artificial intelligence, immune to fear or favour, is helping to make China’s foreign policy. The Asian Century Is Over. Artificial intelligence, immune to fear or favour, is helping to make China’s foreign policy. China reportedly signs secret deal to station troops in Cambodia. Google has opened its first Africa Artificial Intelligence lab in Ghana. Indonesia a bigger military threat to Australia than China says futurist who predicted 9/11.
China’s great global game. A new study tracks the surge in Chinese loans to poor countries - Hey, big lender. Chinese Men Outnumber Women by 33 Million After Decades of Gender Bias. The most polluted air on the planet - The most polluted cities in the world, ranked - Pictures. Japan and climate change. China signs 99-year lease on Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port. China's plan to beat poverty by 2020 an 'extremely difficult mission' Geopolitics and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Xi is not the boss in US-China struggle. Neither’s Trump. Here’s who is. Globalisation is dead and we need to invent a new world order - Open Future. British special forces to get new mission to counter state actors. The World Grows More Dangerous by the Day. Leaked documents reveal Russian effort to exert influence in Africa.
Is China leading in global innovation? China’s Belt and Road Reaches Latin America – Brink – The Edge of Risk. 30 Years After Tiananmen: How the West Still Gets China Wrong. The End of the World As We Know It by Joschka Fischer. China's Belt and Road Initiative Needs to Be Defined. Mourning a phantom: the cherished “rules-based order” never existed.
China’s Grand Idea For The 21st Century: Will The New Silk Road Transform Global Health Assistance? Viewing Chinese foreign policy through the lens of the Chinese classics – Asia Dialogue. The idea of Eurasia is once again the subject of geopolitics - Banyan. The Future of the Eastern Mediterranean Tarek Osman.