China

The military forces of the People’s Republic are formidable. What are Beijing’s plans for them? What does China want in the world? Surely no question has greater importance for the year — and indeed the decade — ahead. The country’s communist government has used China’s remarkably rapid economic growth over the last four decades to amass […]

The United States had a rude awakening when China secured the head job at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It is an important outpost of Chinese influence in the multilateral system and now China seeks to extend its influence there. In 2019, the Chinese government candidate for director general of the FAO, former vice […]

Imagine a world where China buys all the mines in Africa, further solidifying its dominance over the production of rare earth minerals. Imagine if the entire Global South’s telecommunication networks were controlled by Huawei, subsea fiber-optic cables are nearly exclusively built or repaired by China’s HMN Technologies. Imagine the bulk of maritime trade passes through […]

The US-China relationship faces certain tension and rising competition over the next four years. While it is impossible in general to predict specific new administration policies, there are likely to be wide swings between efforts to engage China and seek compromise, with efforts to compete, confront, or even contain Beijing. President Trump will be surrounded by […]

Military aggressions and provocations by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea have created one of the most dangerous security environments in decades. Making matters worse, these powers are supporting each other in their malign actions. How should we refer to this emerging bloc? Russia is waging war to make Ukraine its colony again. Iran has […]

China is steadily increasing coercive measures against Taiwan, but they remain to date below the threshold of military conflict. What is the point at which China’s coercion transitions to the use-of-military force consistent with war? Essentially, when does coercion end and conflict begin? Making that determination will be critical to United States responses. Enhancing understanding of […]

Development of the Trans-Caspian corridor would shift trade and energy routes between Europe and Asia to favor Western commercial and strategic interests. Over the past decade, global trade infrastructure has been transformed by China’s economic rise and its strategic investments in trade routes. Central Asia, the “belt buckle” on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is […]

The United States needs to urgently reinstate the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the country’s largest and oldest trade preference program.  First implemented in 1976, GSP was designed to facilitate economic growth in developing countries by allowing certain products, such as jewelry, carpets, some agricultural and fishery products, and many types of chemicals and minerals, […]

The past two years have witnessed several failures of deterrence – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023. The invasion of Ukraine heightened global awareness that military force by a state actor is not a relic of the past and could occur in other flashpoints around the […]

“The United States as a nation has been severely kidnapped by political and other forces derived from Jewish capital,” thus said Dong Manyuan, the former Vice president of CIIS, the Chinese foreign ministry’s think tank, in a TV interview on November 1, in response to the interviewer claim that Jews “manipulate and control” 70% of […]

China’s evolving role in the Middle East is analyzed by US Ambassador Peter Pham.

“Japan is not now and will never be a tier-two power,” declared Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington in February 2013. He was there to champion the idea of a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Japan, the United States, India, and Australia. He succeeded in […]

[Note from the Editors: We have added parenthetical comments to the article for context in several places.] The United States frames its relations with China as a great power competition, in terms of the Biden administration’s national security strategy, for example. China claims to have a different view, having just emerged from three years of […]

The Biden administration does not view US–China competition in the Middle East as a zero-sum prize for one side to enjoy at the other’s expense. This measured response to China’s growing influence could change, however; outlined below are factors that could shift US policy toward great power confrontation in the region. China’s President Xi Jinping […]

A Letter From the Publisher

A More Robust Role is required in Countering Iran’s Ambitions

“In the midst of death, we are in life.” With stoic resolve, the words of that medieval prayer point toward a path of hope in times of trial.

What made Australia withdraw from the contract it signed with France for advanced submarines?

Does the growing importance of the psychological dimension in modern conflicts put the US and its allies at a disadvantage?

Will the roller coaster ride that is the US–Pakistan relationship become more “normal” now?

Much hinges on Beijing’s expectation that time is on China’s side, but is that really the case?

A view from Singapore: How will Asian countries respond to Biden’s foreign policy?

A practitioner’s perspective: Only a militarily strong Israel can sustain its regional position

America’s adversaries are not the only ones to respond to Washington’s changing regional priorities

The political winds are blowing in an anti-China direction. Biden needs a sophisticated foreign policy strategy