US President Donald Trump’s first appointed secretary of defense, James Mattis, has resigned. Despite the president’s claim on Twitter that Mattis was retiring, his resignation letter makes clear that his departure is effectively one borne of long-term ideological disagreements with Trump and his “America first” foreign policy agenda. The proximal cause, while not stated by […]

Beijing has endeavored to obtain new generation weaponry in almost all military areas, investing billions in research and in the production of new models of battleships, missiles, aircraft and submarines. Many of them are arriving for the tests or will even be responsible for next year. Naval power The Army of the People’s Liberation Army […]

Nepal is not part of America’s Indo-Pacific strategy despite the Himalayan nation’s central role in the region, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has said. Gyawali returned to Nepal on Saturday after wrapping up his five-day visit to the US during which he held talks with his American counterpart Mike Pompeo on a range […]

Under the Trump administration, US response to China’s OBOR is more coherent and comprehensive than in the past, expert says WASHINGTON—China’s One Belt, One Road initiative is one of the world’s most ambitious and controversial development programs. Under the Trump administration, the United States is rolling out new infrastructure projects and other initiatives in the […]

It appears the political and security elites in the United States are preparing for an OK Corral-type s howdown with China. On December 1, the US Justice Department asked (some would argue pressured) Canada to arrest Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, on a provisional warrant. It went on to […]

China has been pursuing an ambitious economic agenda without flexing its military muscle in its neighbourhood and worldwide. Instead of coercion, it has been engaging the neighbouring states by mega-financial investment, encouragement of economic cooperation, and mutual infrastructure projects. It is transferring technology and financing projects in the smaller states. This benign internationalists approach has […]

In a speech to mark China’s 40th anniversary of economic liberalization, the Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the ‘opening up of the economy’ was “a great revolution in the history of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation”. He further said a quantum leap has been made in the cause of socialism with Chinese […]

Jane Harman, president of the Wilson Center, represented California in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she served as ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. If China and the United States had Facebook accounts, their relationship status would be “it’s complicated.” And it’s gotten more complicated with the sudden resignation of Defense Secretary Jim […]

PULLMAN, Wash. — More observers are beginning to realize the U.S.-China trade war isn’t about trade but who controls the world, says a retired Washington State University agricultural economist who once headed a USDA-sponsored China study group. The U.S. has the economic power to win its trade war with China but lacks the political perseverance, […]

  The major tête-à-têtes between Xi and world leaders have been portrayed in Chinese state media as significantly bolstering his presence abroad in what was glowingly termed “heads of state” diplomacy. But China’s increasing international footprint – including Xi’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative – has also faced an increasing pushback, from concerns about debt […]