US Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has recently stressed the importance of “integrated deterrence”, ostensibly against China. This involves all-around coordination with allies and preparation across fields such that the opponent will think twice or thrice before making rash moves. Xiang Lanxin assesses, however, that the conditions for integrated deterrence to work are lacking and there is a high chance that various parties will misjudge the Taiwan Strait issue.
Politics
Politics
While international opinion has largely been negative about the outcomes of the Biden-Putin summit in Geneva, Xiang Lanxin remains positive, saying that the US nursed Russia’s psychological wound by referring to the two countries as “two great powers” and paved the way for the US and Russia to work together against the China threat.
Politics
Understanding the psyche of Biden’s team will help China in its strategic calculations. First of all, members of Biden’s inner circle are different from the hawkish officials in the Trump administration, but they do have a “tragedy complex” that could leave them expecting the worst to happen. Could the upcoming China-US dialogue in Alaska be a first step towards re-orienting bilateral relations? Switzerland-based academic Xiang Lanxin takes a look at the factors at play.
Politics
The Indo-Pacific strategy, with the China threat at the back of its mind, was a vital plank of the Trump administration’s foreign policy. Professor Xiang Lanxin considers the flaws of the concept when put into practice, and wonders if the policy will become something of a white elephant under the Biden administration.
Politics
When it would have been advantageous to watch and wait while the US leadership transition is carried out, China has decided to up the ante with a high-profile show of wolf warrior diplomacy. Is it setting itself up for a boomerang effect?
Politics
The three communiques in US-China relations gave both the US and China a certain cloak of strategic ambiguity, but with senior members of the US government appearing to go against the tenets and China stubbornly holding the US to its clauses, what is left seems to be stark, opposing positions that make drifting into hot war all the more likely.