Media Type: Academic article
Yang Guoliang, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing, frames U.S. pursuit of strategic competition with China as a reemergence of Western imperialism. He suggests the relative shift in economic power away from the West in past decades, toward the rest of the world, has led Washington to characterize globalization as “out-of-control” and introduce its own set of restrictions on international commercial engagement. While reiterating the need for continued reform and opening up, he underscores the need for China to set its own limits on commercial openness — particularly in the realm of inbound foreign investment from the West — in order to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests.
Chinese researchers Sun Xuguang and Zhu Caihua explore the new paradigms of China’s trade as it responds to its industrial upgrading and domestic circumstances. They argue that as China seeks to become a manufacturing superpower, it has come to compete directly with developed countries in advanced manufacturing fields, engendering trade frictions with them. In the case of the United States and Europe, China’s changing trade patterns that now prioritize integrating domestic technology have in the authors’ view threatened to break up the Western high-tech monopoly and inevitably faced pushback.
In this article, Renmin University scholar Cui Shoujun assesses the drivers of evolving China-Latin America relations and identifies tailwinds and headwinds for this relationship down the road. He identifies 2015 as a transformative year in this relationship, marked by the establishment of the China-CELAC forum and more strategic regional engagement by China in the following years. He suggests that going forward, Beijing will need to appreciate diversity among regional capitals, encourage broader and more even Chinese commercial engagement across Latin American countries, and navigate U.S. intentions and anxieties about PRC presence in Latin America in seeking to develop ties with the region.
Two scholars from Fudan University analyze the evolving role of the Belt and Road Initiative in cultivating China-Latin America relations. They characterize Latin America as a key partner that China can work with to promote a reorientation of its trading relationships away from the United States and other advanced Western economies, and they trace growing diplomatic, cultural, and economic exchange between the two sides. Nevertheless, the authors also soberly identify complex challenges that could undermine such developments, including U.S. suspicion of China’s engagement in the region and political and social instability in many Latin American countries. They recommend Beijing proactively seek to deepen cooperation with Latin America on supply chains, infrastructure construction, and people-to-people exchanges, and strategically address the development needs of Latin American countries in order to build influence in the region.
Two researchers from East China Normal University argue that the technological superiority and rapid deployment of Starlink satellites from U.S. firm SpaceX raise a range of new international security issues. These include transforming space from a strategic support domain to a domain of military operations in its own right, crowding out space for satellites from other countries in low-earth orbit, and posing data control and information security challenges for other nations, including China.
Researchers at the National University of Defense Technology analyze the development of Starlink, SpaceX’s flagship satellite internet technology, its early connections with the U.S. military, and its uses on the battlefield in Ukraine. The authors argue that the United States is militarizing Starlink in ways that disrupt existing rules and norms governing the development and utilization of space-based technologies. They recommend Beijing track Starlink carefully, invest in developing and deploying domestic alternatives, and coordinate closely with fellow “socialist” countries to pare back Starlink’s global reach.
Correction: The partner column in the third row of the Table 1: Overview of the Militarization of “Starlink” should read “DARPA,” or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
In this piece, two researchers from PLA-affiliated National University of Defense Technology argue that Starlink will negatively impact global stability, in light of its clear military applications, increased risks of accidents and collisions in space, and SpaceX’s close relationship with the U.S. military. The authors foresee a worsening security dilemma as other countries react to broad U.S. deployment of Starlink, thereby impacting strategic stability in space.
A researcher from the China Institute of International Studies analyzes the Biden administration’s diplomacy with African countries in the food and agriculture space. He argues that U.S. aid and new initiatives designed to improve Africa’s food security are motivated by a broader strategy of maintaining American dominance in the region, securing future markets for U.S. agricultural products and secure sources of critical minerals, and curbing China’s growing influence on the continent.
A prominent Russia scholar, Feng Shaolei, analyzes the conflict in Ukraine, arguing that it reflects deep structural changes in the international system. These changes include increasing polarization between Russia and the West and growing relevance of the Global South in international affairs. Feng suggests that following the war, what he terms an “Asian Mediterranean” or Eurasian economic sphere will emerge, attendant with Russia’s pivot to the East and what he sees as China’s strengthening position in the Asia-Pacific.
This piece, written prior to the Putin-Kim summit in June 2024, analyzes deepening ties between Russia and North Korea amid an increase in high-level diplomatic visits. The authors argue that the bilateral relationship is entering a new stage, driven by shared assessments of the regional and global order, Russia’s strategic reorientation away from Europe and the West, and mutual diplomatic and economic needs. The authors warn that increasingly close Russia-North Korea ties may further destabilize regional security in Northeast Asia.