Xi Jinping

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.

Si è tenuto a Pechino, il 3-4 settembre 2018, il 7° Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Il Forum, creato nel 2000 per istituzionalizzare le relazioni sino-africane, ha riunito i rappresentanti di 53 paesi africani (l’unico assente era eSwatini – l’ex Swaziland – ultimo paese africano a intrattenere relazioni con Taiwan e quindi non con la Repubblica Popolare Cinese) e di varie organizzazioni internazionali assieme a esponenti del governo cinese.

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.

Soon after Chinese President Xi Jinping has succeeded in getting a “CPC leadership system” proposed and approved by the recent National People’s Congress, concerns started to arise in the rest of the world about the impact of that plan on the model of Chinese economic governance, and ultimately on the scenarios for China’s economic stability and growth. Political stability in democratic countries has long and strongly been associated with economic growth, but no similar link can be applied to other countries.