China-US competition

The historic upgrade in Vietnam-US relations has more to do with economics than defence and security. The recent visit by US President Joe Biden was an opportunity for both sides to strengthen cooperation in areas such as high-tech manufacturing, including semiconductor production. This is part of the US's "de-risking" strategy in dealing with China.

Amid the ongoing US-China rivalry, both powers have been sending their navies on exercises in the Yellow Sea, as a signal to each side, stopping just short of actual engagement. This mirrors earlier near-confrontations. Is this all just military posturing ahead of a possible Xi Jinping-Joe Biden summit before the end of the year?

China’s Huawei suddenly launched a new smartphone, equipped with a 7 nm chip said to be made in China and with network speeds reaching 5G levels, shocking the US political circles. What far-reaching impacts will China's breakthrough in chip technology have? How will Washington respond? Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Edwin Ong takes us through the recent developments and what it means for the US’s strategy against China’s tech advancements.

With North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia recently, observers worry that North Korea and Russia, together with China, are drawing closer, forming a greater “axis” of nuclear threat. But academic Jin Kai sees the sense of a greater “alliance” forming as all part of the US and its allies’ “geopolitical imagination”, which could see them taking steps that escalate the situation in the Korean peninsula.

While the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor launched at the recent G20 summit has been touted as a game changer, challenges lie in the way of implementing the plan while China’s ten-year-old BRI continues to be entrenched in global infrastructure networks. EAI senior research fellow Yu Hong shares his views.

During a recent geopolitics conference in Taipei, experts weighed in on the Taiwan Strait situation, assessing that political factors are more likely than military factors to trigger a war. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Miao Zong-Han tells us more about what the experts said.

The EV adventure in China has been successful in some respects, not least with 5.9 million EVs sold on the Chinese market, amounting to 59% of EVs sold globally. However, as a means to reduce climate change, the effort has tended to “put the cart in front of the horse”, because EVs are not particularly environmentally friendly without a steady stream of renewable electricity supply. Academic Erik Baark lays out the factors involved.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s likely absence from the upcoming G20 summit in New Delhi sends a message, amid tensions with India. However, it also means that there is less of an opportunity for China to engage with the US. Does this also mean that China is less interested in talking to the US, or is it leaving that encounter for later at the upcoming APEC summit in San Francisco?

The diplomatic focus on third world countries during Mao Zedong’s era has taken a renewed form in Xi Jinping’s era with the focus on the global south, notes EAI academic Chen Gang. International circumstances could propel the Chinese to further elevate the importance of the global south, not least with the recent expansion of BRICS to include several global south countries.