Top of the Agenda Amazon Nations Gather in Brazil to Talk Shared Rain Forest Protection Policy The eight nations of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization are discussing joint goals for rain forest protection (AP) during a two-day summit that begins today in the Brazilian city of Belém. While several member countries have announced domestic rain forest protection goals, the forty-five-year-old bloc has only held three summits to date, the most recent being in 2009. Brazilian officials said they hope revived political coordination can improve conservation results, while some twenty thousand Indigenous people have held parallel events outside the summit to push for a bigger voice in forest governance. The summit declaration is expected to include announcements on fighting cross-border organized crime and protest what Amazon countries see as unfair trade barriers in the name of environmental protection, Folha de S.Paulo reported. Tomorrow, Amazon countries will meet with (Reuters) envoys from Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo—three other major rain forest nations—and are expected to announce a joint declaration on global forest protection.

Continue reading CFR: Daily News Brief August 8, 2023 →

SÁNG ÁNH – 07/08/2023 15:49 GMT+7

TTCT – Những cuộc đảo chính liên tiếp ở châu Phi Sahel mấy năm qua cho thấy quá trình độc lập thật sự của các quốc gia này vẫn chưa tới, và cả những tính toán địa chính trị phức tạp từ các cường quốc có truyền thống ảnh hưởng ở khu vực.

Về mặt địa lý, châu Phi thường được chia ra thành mấy vùng. Mặt Bắc Phi là mặt biển Địa Trung Hải, tiện lợi trao đổi với Trung Đông và châu Âu. Ai Cập phồn thịnh từ thượng cổ cũng như khu vực kế cận phía Tây Nam là sừng Phi châu. 

Ngay dưới các quốc gia này là sa mạc Sahara khó khăn cho việc sinh sống và buôn bán, chuyển hàng. Châu Phi được coi là “Đen” bắt đầu ở phía nam sa mạc và khu vực tiếp giáp sa mạc được gọi là Sahel. Ngày nay, đây là khu vực cực nghèo của quả đất, tuy Mali chẳng hạn trong quá khứ với những mỏ vàng đã có thời giàu nhất thế giới.

Continue reading Thực dân nào ở đâu xa… →

Top of the Agenda Nigeria Cuts Power Supply to Niger as Neighbors Debate Coup Response Nigeria cut off its electricity supply to Niger as part of sanctions imposed in response to the military’s decision to overthrow the country’s government last week, AFP reported, while the World Bank announced that it was suspending development aid (AFP) other than private-sector partnerships. A bloc of West African nations led by Nigeria is meeting for a second day of talks today on how to respond to the coup, while U.S. President Joe Biden called today for the release (VOA) of Niger’s ousted president and ordered a partial evacuation of the U.S. embassy in the capital, Niamey. While the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has reacted strongly to the coup with sanctions and threats of military action, Niger’s military has leaned on other military regimes nearby. Yesterday, a Nigerien coup leader met with Mali’s military government (NYT), which has close ties with the Russian private military company Wagner Group.

Continue reading CFR: Daily News Brief August 3, 2023 →

NEW YORK; August 1, 2023, Asia Society – A new Task Force on U.S.-China Policy report, Prioritizing Southeast Asia in American China Policy, lays out reasons why Southeast Asia is a critically important but under-appreciated region when it comes to U.S. interests and U.S. competition with China, and recommends actions for the U.S. government, in the face of China’s growing influence in the region.

Continue reading Prioritizing Southeast Asia in American China Policy →

Chinese firms mastered a process that unlocked Indonesia’s ore for use in making EV batteries

By Jon EmontFollow

July 5, 2023 12:17 am ETShareResize

---

Listen

(1 min)

Across the Indonesian archipelago, new industrial plants are going up to process chunks of nickel ore for use in electric-car batteries. Five years ago, there were none.

What changed? Chinese companies had a breakthrough. 

Continue reading How China came to dominate the world’s largest nickel source for electric cars →

Daily News BriefJuly 28, 2023

Top of the Agenda Guterres: Hottest Month on Record Means ‘Global Boiling’ Has Arrived July is “virtually certain” to be the hottest month (WMO) in human history by a significant margin, scientists from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in an announcement yesterday. The month has already seen the hottest three days and highest ocean temperatures ever recorded. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned an era of “global boiling” rather than global warming has arrived (UN News) and said the year of burning heat must translate into accelerated action by states to curb emissions of heat-trapping gasses, as well as more vigorous efforts to bolster climate adaptation. Catastrophic heat waves and wildfires across North America, Asia, and Europe in recent weeks have underscored the changing temperature’s costs for human health. U.S. President Joe Biden said yesterday that extreme heat is costing the United States $100 billion (Bloomberg) per year and threatening lives and business, as he issued a hazard alert to ramp up heat-related protections for workers.

Continue reading CFR: Daily News BriefJuly 28, 2023 →

POLICY REPORT

DOWNLOAD >>

Date Published: Jul 25, 2023

Authors: Alex Wooley, Sheng Zhang, Rory Fedorochko, Sarina Patterson

Citation

Wooley, A., Zhang, S., Fedorochko, R., and S. Patterson. 2023. Harboring Global Ambitions: China’s Ports Footprint and Implications for Future Overseas Naval Bases. Williamsburg, VA: AidData at William & Mary.

‍

Abstract

China has emerged as a dominant maritime nation, with significant commercial and military influence across the world’s seas. Beijing has rapidly increased its investments in global port infrastructure, and the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has evolved from a coastal force to the world’s largest blue-water navy. Yet, China has just one official overseas naval base: a facility in Djibouti. In Harboring Global Ambitions: China’s Ports Footprint and Implications for Future Overseas Naval Bases, we scrutinize China’s options for establishing additional overseas naval bases. Leveraging a new dataset and additional research, we “follow the money” to identify the top 20 ports that have received the most official financing from China; analyze potential basing options ocean by ocean; and propose a shortlist of eight locations for future bases. Our accompanying dataset, China’s Official Seaport Finance Dataset, 2000-2021, tracks 123 seaport projects worth $29.9 billion financed by Chinese state-owned entities to construct or expand 78 ports in 46 countries. We argue that the potential for additional Chinese overseas naval bases has significant implications for global politics and requires cautious strategic responses from the West and developing countries.

PARTNERSHIPS & COMMUNICATIONS

Alex Wooley

Director of Partnerships and Communications

CHINA DEVELOPMENT FINANCE

Sheng Zhang

Research Analyst

CHINA DEVELOPMENT FINANCE

Rory Fedorochko

Junior Program Manager

PARTNERSHIPS & COMMUNICATIONS

Sarina Patterson

Communications Manager

Related Dataset

CHINESE-FINANCED PORT INFRASTRUCTURE

China’s Official Seaport Finance Dataset, 2000-2021

Publication Date: Jul 2023

This dataset tracks 123 seaport projects worth $29.9 billion officially financed by China to construct or expand 78 ports in 46 low-income and middle-income countries from 2000-2021.

Issued by NATO Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Vilnius 11 July 2023

Press Release, July 11, 2023, NATO

The NATO Invitee associates itself with this Communiqué.

1.           We, the Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic Alliance, bound by shared values of individual liberty, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, have gathered in Vilnius as war continues on the European continent, to reaffirm our enduring transatlantic bond, unity, cohesion, and solidarity at a critical time for our security and international peace and stability.  NATO is a defensive Alliance.  It is the unique, essential and indispensable transatlantic forum to consult, coordinate and act on all matters related to our individual and collective security.  We reaffirm our iron-clad commitment to defend each other and every inch of Allied territory at all times, protect our one billion citizens, and safeguard our freedom and democracy, in accordance with Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.  We will continue to ensure our collective defence from all threats, no matter where they stem from, based on a 360-degree approach, to fulfil NATO’s three core tasks of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security.  We adhere to international law and to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and are committed to upholding the rules-based international order.  This Summit marks a milestone in strengthening our Alliance.

Continue reading NATO: Vilnius Summit Communiqué →

COMMENTARY, RAND Corporation

(The Hill)

G7 leaders before a meeting on economic security during the G7 summit, at the Grand Prince Hotel in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023

Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

by Bryan Frederick and Howard J. Shatz

June 9, 2023

With the launch of the Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion in May, the Group of Seven (G7) leading economies have taken an important step after years of U.S. allies and partners facing coercion from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) alone. Continue reading The global movement against China’s economic coercion is accelerating →

By John Irish and Leigh Thomas, Reuters

June 23, 20237:15 PM GMT+7 Updated 15 days ago

• Summary

• World leaders and global organisations meet in Paris
• Agreement for development banks to boost lending
• Rich nations close in on $100 bln climate finance pledge
• U.S., China adopt conciliatory tone on debt relief

PARIS, June 23 (Reuters) – Multilateral development banks like the World Bank are expected to find $200 billion in extra firepower for low-income economies by taking on more risk, a move that may require wealthy nations to inject more cash, world leaders said on Friday.

The leaders, gathered at a summit in Paris to thrash out funding for the climate transition and post-COVID debt burdens of poor countries, said their plans would secure billions of dollars of matching investment from the private sector.

Continue reading Rich nations pledge to unlock hundreds of billions of dollars for climate fight →

Chinese firms mastered a process that unlocked Indonesia’s ore for use in making EV batteries

By Jon EmontFollow

July 5, 2023 12:17 am ETShareResize

---

Listen

(1 min)

Across the Indonesian archipelago, new industrial plants are going up to process chunks of nickel ore for use in electric-car batteries. Five years ago, there were none.

What changed? Chinese companies had a breakthrough. 

Continue reading How China came to dominate the world’s largest nickel source for electric cars →

Jan — Apr 2023 Pacific Forum

 Download Article as PDF

By Yu Bin

Published May 2023 in Comparative Connections · Volume 25, Issue 1 (This article is extracted from Comparative Connections: A Triannual E-Journal of Bilateral Relations in the Indo-Pacific, Vol. 25, No. 1, May 2023. Preferred citation: Yu Bin, “China-Russia Relations: War and Peace for Moscow and Beijing,” Comparative Connections, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp 161-170.)

CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR

Yu Bin, Wittenberg University

Perhaps more than any other time in their respective histories, the trajectories of China and Russia were separated by choices in national strategy. A year into Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, the war bogged down into a stalemate. Meanwhile, China embarked upon a major peace offensive aimed at Europe and beyond. It was precisely during these abnormal times that the two strategic partners deepened and broadened relations as top Chinese leaders traveled to Moscow in the first few months of the year (China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, President Xi Jinping, and newly appointed Defense Minister Li Shangfu). Meanwhile, Beijing’s peace initiative became both promising and perilous as it reached out to warring sides and elsewhere (Europe and the Middle East). It remains to be seen how this new round of “Western civil war” (Samuel Huntington’s depiction of the 1648-1991 period in his provocative “The Clash of Civilizations?” treatise) could be lessened by a non-Western power, particularly after drone attacks on the Kremlin in early May.

Continue reading War and Peace for Moscow and Beijing →

For Beijing, last weekend’s mutiny against Vladimir Putin was a cautionary tale.

By Howard W. French, a columnist at Foreign Policy. 

JUNE 30, 2023, 9:54 AM

Throughout most of the ongoing war in Ukraine, a truism has held across most of the American political spectrum, from left to right, about the second-order effects of the conflict’s outcome. A Ukrainian victory would strengthen the position of the United States vis-à-vis China globally, while a Russian victory would achieve the opposite.

It is easy to see how takes like this gain such a strong foothold. Analysts are quick to apply sweeping, abstract constructs to their assessments of major world events. This time, that has meant a supposed worldwide faceoff between authoritarianism and democracy. Beyond such considerations, many have tried to imagine the Ukraine conflict’s effects on Chinese thinking about Taiwan. Here again, it is supposed that a Ukrainian victory against a vastly larger invading adversary would be deflating for China, lowering the risk of any near-term attempt to take control of Taiwan by force. And a Russian victory, which now seems quite unlikely, would produce the opposite effect.

Continue reading China’s ideological affinity with Russia is over →

SÁNG ÁNH – 04/07/2023 05:20 GMT+7

TTCT – Hai vụ đắm tàu cách nhau 4 ngày và vài nghìn cây số cho thấy thế giới đã trở thành một nơi đáng buồn ra sao.

Gần 3h sáng 14-6 trên Địa Trung Hải gần Hy Lạp, thủy thủ đoàn của chiếc Mayan Queen IV nhận tin có tàu gặp nạn ở gần đó, cách có 4 hải lý. Theo luật hàng hải quốc tế, và luật bất thành văn của dân đi biển, các tàu thuyền có bổn phận giúp đỡ và cưu mang nhau.

Tàu Mayan Queen IV là đại du thuyền tư nhân dài 90m và trị giá 175 triệu đô la, thuộc sở hữu một tỉ phú Mexico, có sức chứa thủy thủ đoàn 24 người và 26 khách, nhưng lúc đó chỉ có thủy thủ đoàn 4 người. 

Đêm không trăng và đen như mực, nhưng trong vòng 20 phút tàu đến hiện trường. Theo thuyền trưởng Richard Kirkby thì tàu duyên phòng của Hy Lạp đang có mặt và chiếu đèn trên biển. 

Ông cho hạ ghe xuống vớt nạn nhân đắm tàu đang bám vào vật nổi lềnh bềnh trên sóng, không ai có áo phao. Theo tiếng kêu yếu ớt của họ trong đêm, Mayan Queen lần dò và vớt lên 104 người Syria, Pakistan, Palestine và Ai Cập. Toàn bộ người được cứu sống là nam.

Tàu đánh cá Adriana dài khoảng 30m, chở 750 người tị nạn vượt biên từ bờ biển Libya sang Âu châu bị lật và chìm chỉ trong vòng 10-15 phút. Khoảng 100 trẻ em và phụ nữ trong hầm tàu không thoát kịp. 80 thi thể sau đó được tìm thấy, số người thiệt mạng như vậy được đoán định khoảng 650.

Continue reading Chuyến tàu định mệnh →