Showing 1-10 of 14 results
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The conflicts of the new world order
Oped, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 14/11/2023
» The crises, conflicts and wars that are currently raging highlight just how profoundly the geopolitical landscape has changed in recent years, as great-power rivalries have again become central to international relations. With the wars in Gaza and Ukraine exacerbating global divisions, an even more profound geopolitical reconfiguration -- including a shift to a new world order -- may well be in the works.
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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.
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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?
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'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.
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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.
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China's creditor imperialism shackles poor countries
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 27/12/2017
» This month, Sri Lanka, unable to pay the onerous debt to China it has accumulated, formally handed over its strategically located Hambantota port to the Asian giant. It was a major acquisition for China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -- which President Xi Jinping calls the "project of the century" -- and proof of just how effective China's debt-trap diplomacy can be.
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China uses trade as political weapon
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 31/07/2017
» China denies mixing business with politics, yet it has long used trade to punish countries that refuse to toe its line. China's recent heavy-handed economic sanctioning of South Korea, in response to that country's decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system, was just the latest example of the Chinese authorities' use of trade as a political weapon.
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China's high-altitude land grab
Asia focus, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 26/06/2017
» Bite by kilometre-size bite, China is eating away at India's Himalayan borderlands. For decades, Asia's two giants have fought a bulletless war for territory along their high-altitude border. Recently, though, China has become more assertive, underscoring the need for a new Indian containment strategy.
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Capitalism not always route to democracy
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 12/03/2016
» As US President Barack Obama prepares to embark on a historic visit to Cuba this month, the future of the communist-ruled island is the subject of widespread speculation. Some observers are hoping that the ongoing shift toward capitalism, which has been occurring very gradually for five years under Raul Castro’s direction, will naturally lead Cuba toward democracy. Experience suggests otherwise.
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Order of influence in the balance
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 25/01/2016
» China's ambition to reshape the Asian order is no secret. From the "one belt, one road" scheme to the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, major Chinese initiatives are gradually but steadily advancing China's strategic objective of fashioning a Sino-centric Asia. As China's neighbours well know, the country's quest for regional dominance could be damaging -- and even dangerous. Yet other regional powers have done little to develop a coordinated strategy to thwart China's hegemonic plans.
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