Everything is ready for the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. According to the worldwide media, on October 1 the Chinese government will surprise the world by showing new military devices during the parade. New missiles, tanks, and army sections are supposed to be carried through Chang An Avenue, the main street cutting through Tiananmen Square.
In September 2019, the clash between the United States and China over Beijing’s move to include language referring to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the text of a United Nations resolution on Afghanistan made global headlines for the second time in merely six months.
Seventy years after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country is a leading global power. Its growing international presence is now inspiring opposing sentiments from countries around the world. Although seven decades have passed, China today still relies on the re-elaboration of the ideological and political principles of its past. Understanding these principles is key to increase our awareness of the role ideology played in shaping the country’s domestic and foreign policy choices. Where is China’s domestic arena headed?
President Xi Jinping’s political and multi-faceted manifesto of the Chinese Dream (zhonguo meng) is considered the hallmark of his administration. Although it may ring a bell of comparison with the previous American Dream, Xi’s slogan has all the characteristics of a national phenomenon deeply steeped in China’s political ideology and traditional culture. The key aspect of the Chinese Dream is the unquestioned centrality of and guiding role played by the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Seventy years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the legacy of great Communist leaders such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping remains the “gravity pole” of China’s policymaking efforts, as it guarantees high levels of consistency between the country’s ideology and the dramatic pace of its modernization.
The meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Donal Trump of the US in the G20 Buenos Aries in November resulted in a reprieve of sorts – a three month pause on the imposition of further tariffs on goods exported from China to the US. This was despite fears already issued by some of Trump’s administration that over USD200 billion of goods would have taxes introduced and that in some cases these would rise to over 20 per cent by the new year.
A military base in Djibouti, growing contributions to UN peacekeeping operations, port calls to countries around the world, and joint exercises with Russia in the Mediterranean and the Baltic Seas: in recent years the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)has expanded its international footprint, and it has left no doubt that it plans to become a
The escalating trade war between the United States and China will be one of the hot issues during the Buenos Aires G20 meeting. This trade conflict, probably the most important since the second world war, started last January with the US introducing safeguard tariffs on imports from the world of solar panels and tariff rate-quotas on imports from the world of washing machines. These tariffs have been introduced in response to requests by US manufacturers.
The upcoming meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping is the main political event of the year in terms of Russian-Chinese relations. On the agenda there is the implementation of the agreement to reach a $200 bln bilateral trade level by 2020, the task that was assigned by the leaders of two countries. The key precondition for the success of this agreement is shifting to a new model of cooperation, with more connected production chains and diverse investment ties.
U.S. American President Donald Trump announced – during his first Asia tour in November 2017 – that it was now time to think about the Indo-Pacific strategy. This has de facto put an end to Washington's previous Asia-Pacific strategy adopted by Trump's predecessor in 2011: the U.S. "pivot to Asia". This shift increases the chances of recreating what has been known as the so-called 'Quad', that is, an alliance which comprises the US, India, Japan, and Australia.
