The US-China temporary trade agreement is a blunt reminder: Washington’s foreign policy under President Donald Trump is transactional. Deals matter, values don’t. This lesson is crucial for the Global South. Economic leverage secures a seat at the table, not democratic credentials. Consider the sidelining of Jimmy Lai, the jailed Hong Kong media mogul and outspoken…
China’s Communist Party has a history of purging and then welcoming back senior officials. Deng Xiaoping was purged three times before leading the country out of Maoism in the late 1970s. Some cadres are welcomed back years after their death. Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, endured the modern version of a purge in 2020. The initial…
China and India should work more closely together, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Indian President Droupadi Murmu, saying their relationship should take the form of a “Dragon-Elephant tango” – a dance between their emblematic animals. The Chinese and Indian presidents exchanged congratulatory messages on Tuesday, the 75th anniversary of the start of their diplomatic ties,…
A US senator said following meetings with top Chinese officials that Beijing needed to take action on stopping the flow of fentanyl precursors to the US before further talks on trade. “It’ll be difficult to have any conversation about tariffs and non-tariff barriers until the fentanyl precursor issue is resolved,” Steve Daines, a Montana Republican,…
As a tariff-happy America under Donald Trump puts China’s export-oriented economy on notice with trade barriers, Beijing is doubling down on efforts to stimulate domestic demand. Local consumption has weakened sharply in recent years, weighed down by a property slump, a market in which much Chinese savings are parked, even as income prospects have dimmed…
President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping would visit Washington soon amid brewing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Xi will be coming in the “not too distant future,” Trump said Monday while attending a board meeting at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Trump has ramped up a…
Zelensky: “I’m not playing cards. I’m very serious, Mr President. I’m very serious.” Trump: “You’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III.” Donald Trump told Volodymyr Zelensky that the latter had no cards no fewer than five times in the last 10 minutes of their…
In the last two weeks, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China conducted live-fire naval drills in the international waters off Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam, and shooting drills in the Taiwan Strait. This show of military might is a sign of China’s growing confidence as a maritime power. It’s also a signal to its…
Being ‘not China’ may have been the easy part. A big manufacturing pitch in several Asian economies was that they enjoyed cordial relations with Beijing and solid historical ties to the US. Leaders didn’t mind taking some rhetorical shots at America if it was convenient for domestic politics, but showed no desire to choose between…
Further, there is the possibility of even more drastic measures like “reciprocal tariffs” (with the possible inclusion of foreign value added taxes) and duties on US imports of critical minerals, apart from universal tariffs on all imports. Also Read: Think win-win: India should try some mineral diplomacy in its relations with the US We are…
