Defense: Rising Awareness and Preparation

Defense: Rising Awareness and Preparation

Monday, January 8, 2024

By: Emily Y. Wu

Taiwan elects a new president on January 13, 2024. Peace across the Taiwan Strait is on people’s minds, but where the candidates and their political parties differ is how to maintain it. All three presidential candidates have indicated they would continue Taiwan’s current foreign policies, though they have different views of what shape relations with China and with the United States should take, as well as different priorities for Taiwan’s defense preparedness.

Type: Podcast

Andrew Scobell on Taiwan’s Elections

Andrew Scobell on Taiwan’s Elections

Monday, January 8, 2024

By: Andrew Scobell, Ph.D.

The United States and China are watching closely as Taiwan prepares for elections on January 13. But while the stakes are high, USIP’s Andrew Scobell says there is a relative consensus among candidates regarding Taiwan’s foreign policy: “Whoever wins the election, we’re likely to see much more continuity than change.”

Type: Podcast

China’s Influence Increases amid Myanmar’s Instability

China’s Influence Increases amid Myanmar’s Instability

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

By: Priscilla A. Clapp;  Jason Tower

Operation 1027 in Myanmar’s northern Shan State has advanced China’s quest to eradicate forced labor scam compounds on its border. However, it has also disrupted the lucrative China-Myanmar border trade and triggered a countrywide attack by resistance forces that has dealt the junta unprecedented battlefield losses. Beijing is concerned that its southwestern provinces will experience economic hardship with the loss of border trade, and that continuing hostilities may affect these provinces’ energy security. The Myanmar army’s desperate request for Chinese help to deal with the fallout from Operation 1027 has probably generated further concern in China that the military may be on the brink of defeat.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

Implications of Xi’s Power Concentration for Chinese Foreign Policy

Implications of Xi’s Power Concentration for Chinese Foreign Policy

Monday, December 18, 2023

By: Suisheng Zhao

Chinese foreign policy is clearly in Xi Jinping’s grip. Xi’s power concentration has given him a strong personal and institutional capacity to chart a new course for China’s approach to its international relations. But he is also prone to make mistakes, increasing Beijing’s foreign policy incoherency.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

The U.S. Needs All the Friends It Can Get

The U.S. Needs All the Friends It Can Get

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

By: A. Wess Mitchell, Ph.D.

The United States needs as many friends as it can get in the intensifying struggle with China, Russia and Iran. But to build large and effective coalitions, it will need to be flexible. At the global level, where competition encompasses security, technology and commerce, it makes sense to appeal to universal principles rooted in the Western traditions of individual liberty and representative government. But at the regional level, especially in those places where most of the United States’ natural partners are not democracies, we will need to be pragmatic and appeal to the shared interests of preserving the independence and sovereignty of individual states against revisionist encroachments.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

“Sewage of the Cold War”: China’s Expanding Narratives on NATO

“Sewage of the Cold War”: China’s Expanding Narratives on NATO

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

By: Philip Shetler-Jones

Although China’s views on NATO have fluctuated since the early days of the Cold War, Beijing’s recent statements on the alliance have sharpened. This report argues that they amount to a “rhetorical attack” on the alliance’s legitimacy that can potentially undermine trust among its Asia-Pacific partners and, more broadly, confidence in Western ideas of collective security. The report offers recommendations for investments NATO should make in understanding, tracking, and countering Chinese narratives about the alliance.

Type: Special Report

Global Policy