Opinion Archives - Page 16 of 45

10Aug

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China’s third plenum highlights the quiet rise of political theorist Wang Huning

In March 1994, Wang Huning was a star professor in political science at Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University, whose dream was to “write more good books and teach more good students”, according to his diary from the time. Instead, Wang’s career has taken him deep into the heart of elite politics in China. He has been an ideology guru for three of the country’s leaders, including President Xi Jinping, and is the ruling Communist Party’s fourth most senior official. In a sign of his status, Wang was a deputy head on the Xi-led team that drafted the resolutions for last month’s third plenary session of the party’s Central Committee, setting China’s economic development tone for at least the next five years. Wang, 68, stepped away from his ideology role and beca

7Aug

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China Treads Cautiously After Hasina Is Driven From Power in Bangladesh

On August 5, in a stunning turn of events, Bangladesh’s long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was driven from office – and from the country – by massive protests. As often is the case, things happened gradually – the protests had been building for over a month, despite increasingly repressive tactics from Hasina’s governments – and then suddenly. Now Bangladesh’s neighbors are struggling to come to grips with the unexpected upheaval in a country that had been a hallmark of political stability, albeit at the cost of an authoritarian turn, during Hasina’s 15-year reign. For China, Hasina’s ouster brings both peril and promise, and the government knows it. So far, Beijing has been tight-lipped on the shocking development, issuing only one terse statement. “China is foll

1Aug

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Does China Prefer Harris or Trump?

Wang Jisi is Founding President of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies, Peking University, China. Hu Ran is a research associate at the Institute of International and Strategic Studies, Peking University. Zhao Jianwei is a research associate at the Institute of International and Strategic Studies, Peking University. Over the past few weeks, the upheavals in the U.S. presidential election season have drawn enormous global attention. Even before the summer began, countries were weighing the implications of former President Donald Trump’s return to the White House and, conversely, what a second term for U.S. President Joe Biden might bring. To many countries, these two possibilities presented markedly different prospects for geopolitics and for the future

31Jul

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Explainer: What’s Behind Bangladesh’s Deadly Protests?

For several weeks in July, Bangladesh was wracked by its most serious episode of civil unrest in decades. What began as student protests against a controversial job quota system escalated into a nationwide crisis that has tapped into a deeper vein of discontent about the state of the economy, official corruption, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's heavy-handed crackdown. As of July 29, at least 150 people have died in the violence and 9,000 have been arrested. The government’s response, which included a curfew and an internet blackout, has exposed a wider set of grievances and engendered another round of student demands, which the government seems completely disinclined to meet. There are now questions about the longer-term economic fallout of the unrest and wh

30Jul

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Myanmar remains off the international legal agenda

In the wake of ICC-issued warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, the prospects of comparable international legal action in Myanmar remain slim. Complexities in the legal situation have combined with geo-political challenges – including regional ambivalence towards international law, and China and Russia’s continued engagement with the junta – to prevent international courts from playing a role in the situation. Accountability for ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity is likely to be delayed until the situation is resolved, a prospect which remains out of sight for the foreseeable future. In May, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. This followed a similarly swift response by the ICC to Russia’s inva

27Jul

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Wang Yi Meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

On July 27, 2024 local time, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Vientiane at the latter's request. The two sides exchanged views on current China-U.S. relations, and agreed to maintain communication at all levels and further implement the important common understandings reached by their Presidents at the San Francisco meeting. Wang Yi said that in the past three months, the diplomatic, financial, law enforcement, and climate teams of the two governments and the two militaries have maintained communication, and people-to-people exchanges have been on the rise. However it must be pointed out that the U.S. has not stopped, but rather doubled down on its containment and suppr...

25Jul

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India must embrace security coalitions

Four years after China's escalation at the Galwan Valley, India's multi-alignment strategy is in need of recalibration. Historically, India has been averse to establishing security coalitions or alliances, but there is a growing belief that it may need to engage in a deeper bilateral security partnership with Washington or create a security minilateral with Himalayan states in order to resist Beijing and maintain its sovereignty. 15 June 2024 marks the fourth year since China’s deadly escalation at the Galwan Valley. Since they began in 2020, negotiations and dialogue are yet to deliver any resolution to the border dispute. As such, India’s multi-alignment strategy, precisely implemented to ‘manage’ China, has run its course and requires recalibration. The m

25Jul

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China Briefing 25 July 2024: ‘Third plenum’ outcomes; ‘Low-carbon’ coal plants; EU probes wind subsidies

‘Third Plenum’ called for unleashing tech innovation FULL STEAM AHEAD: The “Third Plenum”, an important five-yearly political meeting traditionally associated with major economic reforms, concluded in Beijing on 18 July with a call to “make ‘high-quality development’ the guiding force” of the nation’s economy, Bloomberg reported. Policymakers resolved to foster “new quality productive forces” to “promote revolutionary breakthroughs in technology” and “in-depth industrial transformation and upgrading”, with a particular focus on strategic industries such as new energy, Reuters said. (See this issue’s spotlight or the full article on the Carbon Brief website for more on what this means for China’s industrial, energy and climate policy.) SPECIFI

24Jul

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Regionalism Trends Reshape Future for Central Asian States, Says Expert

ASTANA – Why does regionalism matter in the region? How do countries implement multilateral dialogue? Which country is an informal authority in the region? These are the topics we discussed with Filippo Costa Buranelli, Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of St. Andrews, in a recent interview. As an expert, Costa Buranelli published more than 50 works on Central Asia, global governance, theory of international relations, geopolitics, international history, and other topics. He has been visiting Central Asia since 2013 and has collaborated with local universities and institutions. Regional politics in Central Asia “My research on regionalism seeks to identify the norms, principles, and practices that have allowed the Central Asian states to

23Jul

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Bangladesh PM blames political foes for violence

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has blamed her political opponents for the deadly unrest in the country, adding she was "forced" to impose a curfew for public safety. "We will lift the curfew whenever the situation gets better," she said on Monday in a meeting with business leaders in the capital Dhaka. Security forces are accused of excessive force against student protesters, in which more than 150 people have been killed in the past week. Police have arrested over 1,000 people, including several senior opposition leaders. Ms Hasina's comments came a day after Bangladesh's top court scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs, meeting a key demand of protesters. The rallies have sparked one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence in the country for years and esc...