Whenever there is a lot of money involved, even aspects such as national pride become less important and the issue of whether or not China should be considered an “emerging” or “developing” country is perhaps a textbook example. Think of it as Asian “Realpolitik” or, in other words, China’s way of trying to get the
Geopolitics
04
Jul
Jul
- 3 Comments
The Belt and Road Initiative in a Nutshell
Up until 2016, it was called the OBOR (One Belt One Road) Strategy, whereas nowadays, we refer to it as the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative). To avoid misunderstandings, the word “one” was eliminated from the equation and “strategy” was replaced by “initiative” to avoid making other geopolitical players suspicious. Regardless of the name we
04
Jul
Jul
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China’s Leadership Role(s) in a Potentially Multi-Polar World
Whether we like/accept it or not, the world is moving toward a multi-polar leadership framework as opposed to the US-centric one we have today. Why? Simply because there are many forces pushing the world in such as direction rather than there just being one reason which explains everything, forces such as: The United States itself
04
Jul
Jul
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Hu Jintao’s Conservative Balance-Oriented Leadership of China
Jiang Zemin left behind a China of contradictions in many respects. On the one hand, a nation that had experienced impressive economic growth but on the other hand, the frequently unsustainable nature of that economic growth came with its own set of problems, from externalities such as pollution to ideological inconsistencies (with many members of
03
Jul
Jul
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Why You Should Care About the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
If you ask 10 relatively politico-economically literate individuals what NATO is, it is quite probable that 8 or 9 will know. Ask the same people what the SCO is and more likely than not, you’ll be on the receiving end of 10 shrugs. Yet despite its less than stellar notoriety outside diplomatic circles and despite
02
Jul
Jul
- 2 Comments
Deng Xiaoping and the Modernization(s) of China
As mentioned in our article about Mao Zedong, an attitude shift with respect to the proverbial West started taking place near Mao’s death but it was a fairly… well, let’s call it modest one. Not only was it modest, the reasons behind it were less related to the intention of embarking on a journey toward
01
Jul
Jul
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China During the Mao Zedong Era
If one had to describe Mao Zedong using just two words, “the ideologue” would most likely be the number one choice… with pros but unfortunately also cons deriving from his strongly ideology-driven approach to ruling China. To put things into perspective, Mao Zedong’s attitude when Nikita Khrushchev came to power in the USSR (following Stalin’s
24
Jun
Jun
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Macroeconomic Outlook, Opportunities and Challenges for China
Macroeconomics is yet another instance where phrases which revolve around the fact that the only constant is change are relevant. Times change, variables change, people change and macroeconomic trends cannot help but keep up. As such, it makes sense to keep the most important macroeconomic realities of the present in mind and be on the
23
Jun
Jun
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China and Globalization: From Generational Opportunity to Systemic Risk
In the Western world, globalization has many enemies and the reasons are not hard to understand. In light of the fact that many Western companies decided to either outsource or move to countries with lower workforce costs altogether, many domestic employees who thought the could count on job security were left vulnerable. To give you
21
Jun
Jun
- 1 Comment
China and the World Trade Organization’s Love/Hate Relationship
Back in 2001, China’s WTO membership came with promises that the authorities will embark on a journey which consists of clear measures that increase the access of foreign companies to China’s domestic market. Since then, China went from a $1.3 trillion GDP in 2001 to over $14 billion at this point and some countries (with