Showing 1 - 10 of 29
America's Myanmar policy is simply all wrong
Oped, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 15/07/2023
» A recent joint statement by US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "expressed deep concern about the deteriorating situation in Myanmar" and called for a constructive dialogue to aid the country's transition toward an inclusive federal democratic system. Unfortunately, the US-led sanctions policy has undercut this goal and made a bad situation worse.
Of debt and bondage with Beijing
Oped, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 26/11/2022
» Recently released details of Kenya's 2014 loan agreement with China to finance a controversial railway project have once again highlighted the predatory nature of Chinese lending in developing countries. The contract not only imposed virtually all risk on the borrower (including requiring binding arbitration in China to settle any dispute), but also raised those risks to unmanageable levels (such as by setting an unusually high interest rate). With terms like that, it is no wonder some countries around the world have become ensnared in sovereignty-eroding Chinese debt traps.
US-India ties too important to be neglected
Oped, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 18/10/2022
» The upcoming joint military exercise between the US-India known as War Practice, in a high-altitude area less than 100 kilometres from India's border with China, highlights the partnership's growing strategic importance. India holds more annual military drills with the US than any other country, as the two powers seek to improve their forces' interoperability.
The dramatic fall of the House of Rajapaksa
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 14/07/2022
» For much of nearly two decades, the four Rajapaksa brothers and their sons have run Sri Lanka like a family business -- and a disorderly one, at that. With their grand construction projects and spendthrift ways, they saddled Sri Lanka with unsustainable debts, driving the country into its worst economic crisis since independence. Now, the dynasty has fallen.
A declining America is focusing on the wrong enemy
Oped, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 17/02/2022
» Much of the democratic world would like the United States to remain the pre-eminent global power. But with the US apparently committed to strategic overreach, that outcome risks becoming unlikely.
Beijing's South China Sea grab
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 18/12/2018
» It has been just five years since China initiated its major land reclamation in the South China Sea, and the country has already shifted the territorial status quo in its favour -- without facing any international pushback. The anniversary of the start of its island building underscores the transformed geopolitics in a corridor central to the international maritime order.
The end of America's China fantasy
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 26/10/2018
» A long-overdue shift in America's China policy is under way. After decades of "constructive engagement" -- an approach that has facilitated China's rise, even as the country has violated international rules and norms -- the United States is now seeking active and concrete counter-measures. But is it too late to rein in a country that has emerged, with US help, as America's main geopolitical rival?
'Belt and Road' is buckling under scrutiny
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 01/10/2018
» On a recent official visit to China, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad criticised his host country's use of major infrastructure projects -- and difficult-to-repay loans -- to assert its influence over smaller countries. While Dr Mahathir's warnings in Beijing against "a new version of colonialism" stood out for their boldness, they reflect a broader pushback against China's mercantilist trade, investment, and lending practices.
China poses threat to the environment
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 27/08/2018
» Asia's future is inextricably tied to the Himalayas, the world's tallest mountain range and the source of the water-stressed continent's major river systems. Yet reckless national projects are straining the region's fragile ecosystems, resulting in a mounting security threat that extends beyond Asia.
The world according to Trump, Xi
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 25/05/2018
» The world's leading democracy, the United States, is looking increasingly like the world's biggest and oldest surviving autocracy, China. By pursuing aggressively unilateral policies that flout broad global consensus, President Donald Trump effectively justifies his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping's longtime defiance of international law, exacerbating already serious risks to the rules-based world order.