China & Taiwan

Australia and India’s New Military Bases: Responses to China’s Naval Presence in the Indian Ocean

In May 2022, a Chinese navy Type 815 electronic surveillance ship, the Haiwangxing, sailed close to the Harold E. Holt naval communication station in western Australia, a facility jointly operated by Australia and the United States. On the edge...

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Hamas Allegations Threaten Another Breakdown in US-South Africa Ties

The Biden administration is facing an emerging challenge that could result in another breakdown in the strategic partnership with South Africa. In the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel, there are concerns that the South African government has...

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Honduras Ditches Taiwan for China

In March 2023, China signed a joint communique with the Honduran Foreign Ministry declaring that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” breaking relations with Taiwan after over eighty years of Honduran-Taiwanese relations. A few months later, in...

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China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Politics Over Economics

When international delegates to the Third Belt and Road Forum gather in October 2023, they might find the focus of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has shifted again. If that happens, it could prompt some to wonder anew...

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China Continues to Deepen its Political Influence in Georgia

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s recent visit to China and his meeting with President Xi Jinping heralded the establishment of a strategic partnership between China and Georgia. Garibashvili called his visit historic. Moreover, he expressed Tbilisi’s willingness to deepen its relationship with Beijing and support all...

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UAE and France: A Key, and Challenging, Relationship

On January 17, 2022, a little after 10 a.m., the Iranian-aligned Houthis in Yemen carried out a surprise, deadly drone attack on the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi. Paris responded by activating, for the first...

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The Folly of Merging the Indo-Pacific and Europe

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States has embarked upon an ambitious endeavor: containing its two most powerful rivals, China and Russia, at the same time. Central to this strategy is the imperative of...

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China’s Global Island-Hopping Strategy

Not since the Cuban missile crisis have island nations played such critical pieces on the geopolitical chessboard. Recent intelligence leaks, for example, reveal that China is planning to construct a signals intelligence facility in Cuba in order to monitor...

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Government Push for Champions Could Have Firms Champing at the Bit

Capitalists of the world unite! You have everything to lose, especially your supply chains.  Just about a month ago, on June 18, Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes was quoted in the Financial Times as saying “We can de-risk, but we...

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The Primacy Trap

In the 2010s, the global landscape changed. The Arab Spring, the Russian occupation of Crimea, and China’s national security law in Hong Kong were indicative of a profound change in the global system. The era of the unipolar moment,...

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