In Beijing’s 2025 military parade, symbolism mattered as much as firepower. Alongside next-generation drones and hypersonic missiles, President Xi Jinping stood in a Mao-style suit, flanked by foreign dignitaries like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. Chinese state media called it a celebration of national “rejuvenation,” but for those who came of age during the […]
Tag: Xi Jinping
The Chinese Dream Versus a Chemical Crisis
China has backed itself into a diplomatic corner. In order to achieve its ambitious goals, Beijing must balance its reputation, relations with potential investees in the Global South, and relations with the United States. In terms of the U.S., Beijing wants to project power, mainly by winning the trade war through strategic leveraging of counternarcotics […]
Beyond APEC, Protestors Stand in Solidarity
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, held in San Francisco from November 11-17, gathered leaders from its 21 member states to deliberate on regional economic issues. On the morning of November 15, President Biden and Xi held their talk at Filoli Garden to discuss economic cooperation as well as topics including fentanyl, artificial intelligence, climate […]
Why China’s Growing Influence in the Middle East Matters
Trailing behind the exit of the United States, China has taken an interest in the Middle East, brokering diplomatic deals between Saudi Arabia and Iran. This is a surprising role for China to take on, as the country has, in the past, shown relatively little interest in that region of the world. The spike in […]
The Sino-Russian Relationship: Out of Sincerity, or Forced by Circumstance?
The scenes of the 2022 Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony in Beijing stuck out as a muted affair compared to the pomp and grandeur of the Summer Olympics fourteen years ago. While the 2008 Olympics symbolized China’s ascent onto the world stage among the world’s great powers, the 2022 Winter Olympics instead highlight China’s increasing isolation […]
A New Era of Hong Kong
“Two-thousand and eighty-five votes in favor, zero against, and one abstention. [The bill is] passed!” On March 11, 2021, nearly 3,000 Chinese lawmakers passed the “decision on improving the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” at the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC). The NPC, according to China’s Constitution, […]
What A Biden Presidency Means For U.S.-China Relations
On November 8, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump was welcomed to China by his “good friend” President Xi Jinping, who held an extravagant ceremony at the Forbidden City, home to the Chinese emperors for almost 500 years. Trump showed Xi a video clip of Arabella Kushner, Trump’s granddaughter, singing proverbial children’s songs in Mandarin. At […]
Confronting China: The Best Deterrence Lies in a Multilateral Alliance
In my last article, I detailed some of the strategic and technological changes that the U.S. needs to make to its military strategy to successfully deter China from military action in East Asia. Though maintaining our military edge is important, China is a rising power while the U.S. is in relative decline. China has both […]
Confronting China: Restoring U.S. Military Hegemony in East Asia
Over the last decade, Americans of all political parties have been waking up to the threat posed by China. With rapidly growing military and economic might, China seems determined to further its own interests at the expense of the freedom, liberties, and sovereignty of neighboring countries and the liberal-democratic institutions which underpin the global order. […]
Technology with Chinese Characteristics: China’s Strategic Vision in 2019
Standing before the 17th General Assembly of the Chinese Academy of Sciences just over a year after his election to office, Xi Jinping opined, “we cannot always decorate our tomorrows with others’ yesterdays.” Five years later on October 1st, 2019, President Xi echoed that sentiment while addressing a crowd of thousands in Tiananmen Square, declaring, […]