China
The Moon: The great game on new turf
There is something about humans and land. Even in the age of virtual reality, humans clamour for territory. When songs of hyper-globalisation were trending, Russia reinforced that…
Iran’s lithium lode: A potential strategic game-changer
Iran’s recent unearthing of a vast lithium deposit – potentially the world’s second largest – has sent shockwaves through the global lithium competition landscape. Amid the…
Economic diplomacy: Hard labour managing geo-economic fragmentation
Catching a wave
The Biden administration’s loosely named Inflation Reduction Act has flowed through the global economy like a tsunami engulfing everything from the reshoring…
De-dollarisation: shifting power between the US and BRICS
There has been increasing talk of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) developing a new currency that will rival the US dollar as the global reserve…
China’s big gamble in Pakistan: A 10-year scorecard for CPEC
A flagship for China’s much-vaunted Belt and Road Initiative, the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been underway for a decade. Signed by Pakistan’s…
Something fishy about China’s anger over the Quad’s open ocean plans
Some international issues should be non-sensitive and uncontroversial. One of these is the regulation of fishing fleets to prevent overfishing and ensure the sustainable use of…
Berlin’s economic “de-risking” model could be Europe's answer to the Taiwan question
On 13 July, Germany released its China strategy white paper. The 64-page document highlighted the European power’s acceptance of a “systemic rivalry” with the People’s Republic of…
Qin Gang has come and gone, but US-China drama is stuck on repeat
Qin Gang’s ouster as China’s foreign minister, as sudden as it was unexpected, reverberated around the world. One of China’s President Xi Jinping’s most loyal servants, Qin rose…
It’s no surprise Australia shrugged off China’s campaign of trade coercion
It has been clear for some time that China’s campaign of trade coercion against Australia has been rather ineffectual, either in imposing significant economic costs on Australia…
A return to old-school mercantilism?
Talk is cheap. In the international system, states closely monitor each other’s actions and rhetoric becomes secondary. With the acceleration of great power competition, states…