Westerners regard Russia’s war as an attack on the rules-based order, but Chinese scholars see it as another harbinger of the denouement of US hegemony. While Americans and Europeans can argue with this position, it would be a mistake not to take it seriously
To address the systemic challenge China poses, the EU will also need to address the fallout in the global south of Russia’s war on Ukraine
The West has only recently started to develop a coordinated strategy to compete with China in the Balkans. This contest has now begun in earnest
Asia’s three largest powers all have a stake in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. China hopes to change the global order, Japan aims to resist this effort, and India is eager not to alienate Russia or the West
Beijing and Moscow are unlikely to rush to each other’s aid during a military escalation, be it in Ukraine or over Taiwan. But the enabling environment of their mutual diplomatic support matters greatly
Japan supports an open, free, and secure internet, as well as the application of international norms to state activities in cyberspace. The country should be the primary focus of EU efforts to develop a shared cyber-security agenda in the Indo-Pacific
China is pressuring EU companies to cease trading with Lithuanian firms. This is a critical moment for the European Union – it should build up defences for its internal market and protect member states and companies from political coercion
China’s economic support for Iran in recent years encouraged Tehran to come back to the negotiating table. Instability in the Middle East is as little in Beijing’s interests as it is in the West’s
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