Commentary / World May 13, 2021

The limits to U.S.-China climate cooperation

The best we can hope for is that the two superpowers are disciplined enough to avoid endangering humanity’s survival as they jostle for geopolitical advantage.

Commentary / World Apr 8, 2021

China’s human rights and economic self-harm

China can afford an economic decoupling with the U.S. (though it will be costly). It cannot afford a simultaneous decoupling with the rest of the major Western economies.

Commentary / World Mar 17, 2021

Why China’s Hong Kong crackdown could backfire

The Year of the Ox has begun darkly for the people of Hong Kong. On Feb. 16, nine pro-democracy activists, including 82-year-old Martin Lee, the revered long-time leader of the city’s Democratic Party, went on trial facing charges of illegal assembly. A week later, the ...

Commentary / World Feb 5, 2021

Biden and Xi: Cooperation should come first, tit-for-tat later

If neither Biden nor Xi wants to risk any political capital to make the first move, the U.S.-China relationship is highly likely to worsen further.

Commentary / World | Beyond COVID-19 Dec 28, 2020

China’s fateful year, from Wuhan to Hong Kong

In 2020, relations with the West swung back toward mutual distrust and hostility, with the COVID-19 pandemic and Hong Kong national-security law playing decisive roles.

Commentary / World Dec 25, 2020

China’s green gambit and climate change

In President Xi’s view, China may be able to use the promise to cooperate on climate change as a source of leverage with which to thwart Joe Biden’s containment strategy

Commentary / World Dec 2, 2020

A road map for stabilizing Sino-American relations

By demonstrating a willingness to cooperate despite their fundamental differences, Biden and Xi can reassure the global community that cooler heads have prevailed in both countries.

Commentary / World Nov 1, 2020

Trump’s election gift to China

At the ideological level, a U.S. election meltdown featuring bitter political clashes and endless litigation would be a propaganda bonanza for the Chinese Communist Party.

Commentary / Japan Sep 19, 2020

Japan’s geopolitical balancing act just got harder

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s unexpected resignation last month for health reasons has raised many questions about the legacy of the country’s longest-serving premier. One of them is whether his successor, Yoshihide Suga, will be able to continue Abe’s geopolitical balancing act as tensions ...