The Gwadar protests are more than just a story of manipulation of the food insecurity and frustrations of the local population. They also illustrate the failure of an economic development strategy based on fallacies.
In the coming decades, the question of who sets the global rules, standards, and norms guiding technology, trade, and economic development will be paramount. Having lost their exclusive prerogative in this domain, some Western governments have begun to rethink the universality of the rules-based order.
The EU and the US lack a shared strategy for tackling economic coercion involving critical raw materials, and it could increase transatlantic competition during severe supply disruptions
Germany is right to view 6G through the lens of growing geopolitical competition. But, instead of investing in its own 6G programme, the country could better serve its interests by supporting EU efforts to develop standards in this area.
A permanent Chinese military installation in Equatorial Guinea is the culmination of nearly a decade’s investment in Africa – and will not be the last of such bases on the continent’s Atlantic coast
The EU’s strongest asset remains trade. If it makes the most of this, it could prove highly welcome to Indo-Pacific countries considering China’s application to join the regional CPTPP trade agreement.
The ultimate effect of AUKUS could be to force Europeans to conclude there is no point in engaging in the vital yet geographically distant issue of Indo-Pacific security
Japan’s citizens and leaders across the political spectrum are increasingly aware that China poses a security threat. The country’s next prime minister is unlikely to make a dramatic change to the China policy set by his predecessors.
In their new security and technology arrangement with Australia, America and Britain have achieved tactical gains at the expense of strategic goals in the Indo-Pacific. In fact, given how deeply the deal has divided the West, the biggest long-term winner may well be China.