China’s foreign policy faces complexity due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It seeks access to resources and markets for its development and aims to challenge the dominance of the US, EU, and NATO. China cannot support Russia nor back NATO’s leadership. It seeks stability through diplomacy and maintains strict political control. However, Putin’s invasion and NATO’s response create strategic headaches for China, affecting its carefully promoted multipolar world order. China’s stability seems more secure than Russia’s, but uncertainties remain amid the changing global landscape.
Analyses
China
- Seán Golden 29 May 2023Chess pursues the elimination of pieces; Go the encirclement of territory. Against US containment policy, China is expanding where there is space to expand.
- Seán Golden 30 November 2022Jiang Zemin’s death coincided with a wave of protests against the current Chinese government’s zero-COVID policy. He came to power in China as the result of waves of protest in favour of political reform in 1989. In contrast to the current situation, his period in power may be perceived to have been more open, but he repressed Falun Gong movement and never advocated for opening reforms
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- Giovanni Panzeri 19 May 2022In recent decades the world has gradually understood the importance of transitioning to a clean energy economy, buoyed by the prospective of catastrophic environmental collapse. However, few know that this transition largely rests on the employment of a few critical minerals whose global demand is set to skyrocket in the near future. Of particular importance in this case are the so called “rare earth” minerals, which have been at the center of US-China tensions on trade and technology in the recent decade. This article will give a brief account of the current situation regarding the rare earth elements supply chain and how it has been at the center of Us-China competition.
- Giovanni Panzeri 12 May 2022In the present world computers, cars, phones, televisions, refrigerators have become commodities which are so present that it is difficult for many to imagine a life without them. All these items work thanks to tiny devices called semiconductors. But what are they? How are they produced? And how have they ended up at the center of the present US-China trade war? This article will attempt to give a brief account of the present US-China competition on semiconductors, how it is affected by external factors like the Covid-19 pandemic, and what it might entail for the future.