Reports

U.S. President Trump’s administration may find it possible to clinch the first phase of a comprehensive trade deal with China as a way to harvest the low-hanging fruit. The real challenge will be completing Phase Two, which will cover more contentious issues, especially as the presidential campaign gains speed in ...

Despite the need for a united EU stance on Chinese competition and security issues, Germany remains focused on bilateral relations. By doing so, it gains a valuable trade partner, but it also incurs the risk of expanding China’s influence in the European sphere. The only way for Berlin to solve ...

China is facing rising labor costs, relatively low productivity growth and competition from other developing countries. While the trade dispute with the U.S. provides Beijing with a scapegoat, the true causes of the dilemma lie in the past policy. If Chinese consumers lose confidence in their economy, a crisis could ...

With its vast expanses, its undeveloped areas and its need to connect east and west, one might think Russia would have ample incentive to develop a world-class rail system. But that has not happened, even after it agreed to work with China on an ambitious Moscow-to-Beijing rail project. Bureaucracy, corruption ...

For years, the U.S.-China rivalry has been the main driver of geopolitical developments. When President Donald Trump entered office, the countries’ trade relationship became the central focus of that competition. His aggressive moves to implement tariffs have made geopolitical waves, but also opened up some opportunities. This Dossier reviews GIS ...

One of the world’s most renowned quantum physicists, Stanford University Professor Zhang Shoucheng, committed suicide in December 2018. The prize-winning academic career of this Chinese-born scientist, along with his extensive business interests and sudden death, have much to tell us about China’s long-term strategy to overtake and surpass the West ...

As relations with the West continue to deteriorate, Russia has tried to build a future in which it does not belong to Europe — by looking to Asia. But economic weaknesses, an alienating foreign policy and the rise of China have stunted Russia's pivot to Asia. A reset with Europeans, ...

Corruption can be a catalyst for political change, as in Latin America, or the basis of a rent-seeking regime, as in Russia. But in rare instances, it can also affect the ebb and flow of global geopolitics. This is clearly evident on the rim of the former Soviet Union, where ...

For decades, relations between the EU and China have been based on growing economic cooperation and trade. But this interdependence has become asymmetric, which China exploits to maximize its own benefits and weaken European unity. While Beijing moves toward a knowledge-based economy, it also sees the future in nationalist, “back-to-the-future” ...

At the end of April, the presidents of the United States and China failed to sign a long-overdue trade agreement. Financial markets were not happy. The world of business believes that the crisis is not temporary but that its consequences are far from dramatic and that new opportunities might actually ...

As trade tensions with the U.S. intensify, Chinese President Xi Jinping is reverting to the leadership style of Mao Zedong. Initially concerned to accommodate U.S. demands, Mr. Xi is now more worried about domestic critics and gearing up for a protracted struggle. Many see the U.S. as having the upper ...

The Asia-Pacific region is seeking a balance of economic and geopolitical benefits with two overlapping trade agreements. Across both sides of the Pacific, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership replaces the defunct TPP agreement after the withdrawal of the United States. Meanwhile, in Asia, the ten ASEAN member ...

Though Washington sees China as trying to supplant the U.S. as the global superpower, what Beijing really wants is to carve out a sphere of influence in Eurasia and parts of Africa. Whether it can attain this role of “junior superpower” will depend greatly on the success of the Belt ...

Since President Donald Trump reestablished the U.S. military’s Space Command, plenty of ink has been spilled on the potential for space-based weapons. While satellites are playing a larger role, the battle for dominance in space will remain earthbound for the long term. The question is whether the U.S., China and ...

Long neglected by all but devoted regional specialists, Turkmenistan has recently begun to matter in international politics. The reason is a sharp drop in energy prices, which has turned the gas-rich country into an economic basket case, and the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan. Both developments have Russian and Chinese ...

Slow at first to pick up on the disruptive nature of battery technology, Europe is now aiming to give the industry a boost. The U.S. and Asia, especially, have a head start. The stakes are high: if Europe loses out, not only could it suffer economically, it could also lose ...

The mountainous border between India, China and Pakistan is a dangerously underestimated trouble spot that could wreak havoc between Asia's two emerging superpowers.

As it tries to manage the effects of the trade war with the United States, China is seeking more allies and partners in the West. Europe could benefit greatly – if it could speak with one voice. China is exploiting divisions in the EU, intensifying its relations with cash-strapped member ...

Less than a year after the Korean Peninsula appeared poised for war, little on the ground has changed. North Korea appears to be forging ahead with its nuclear program. Yet the public perception is that things are moving ahead on the diplomatic front, and there is even a whiff of ...

China will cast a long shadow in East Asia again this year. 2019, however, is shaping up to be less volatile than 2018. In security matters, expect China to use more “carrot” than “stick” as its neighbors try to balance Beijing against Washington. In economic terms, a stimulus program and ...

China’s rise as an economic and military colossus has transformed the geopolitics of East Asia. Its most powerful neighbor, Japan, has embarked on a more self-reliant course, even as it continues to lean heavily on its alliance with the United States. Tokyo is expanding its contacts, both economic and strategic, ...

India has long warned of the strategic dangers posed by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Today, more and more countries are voicing their suspicions about the BRI’s potential effects. The project also faces difficulties due to financial problems within China. Beijing seems to be recasting the BRI as a ...

The drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan and Chinese persecution of the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang could turn Central Asia into a hotbed of jihadist terrorism. One country that is particularly vulnerable to such a resurgence is Tajikistan. It is also the area where Russian and Chinese security interests ...

The vulnerability of Russia’s Far Eastern and Siberian regions to Chinese expansion has become a truism. Yet most Russians seem to favor closer ties with China, and bilateral relations may be at their best in history, without a trace of military or political tension. There are also few signs of ...