International Crisis Group
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“Washington’s show of resolve and force has to be complemented by efforts to shore up ASEAN’s institutional capacity and capability. It has to ensure its actions support ASEAN’s leadership but not replace it.” —Yanmei Xie, Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst, China, tells dpa international referring to the Association of South-East Asian Nations
Source: dpa international
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Xi Asserts China’s Middle East Role as Iran Sanctions Lifted
President Xi Jinping will wade into the feud between Iran and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as he begins a Middle East tour that shows a new willingness by China to flex its diplomatic clout in one of the world’s most volatile regions.
Xi’s five-day swing through Riyadh, Cairo and Tehran represents the president’s first foray into the Middle East since taking power three years ago and marks 60 years of relations between Beijing and the Arab League. He’s also seeking to protect Chinese influence that accumulated in Iran during the country’s long isolation, with Xi becoming the first major world leader to visit since the U.S. and European Union lifted sanctions Saturday and cleared the way for its reemergence in the global economy.
FULL ARTICLE (Via Bloomberg)
Photo: Flickr/Thierry Ehrmann
SOURCE: Bloomberg
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After the Icy Handshake, What Comes Next? | Yanmei Xie
No one can mistake it for a budding bromance. When Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe posed for a photo-op while shaking hands on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, both appeared as if they would rather be anywhere else. But for now questions of discomfort are unimportant; rather, the significance lies in the fact that they met and expressed willingness to manage differences for the sake of healthier bilateral ties, which in the past two years have repeatedly plunged to new lows.
It may, for the moment, be a triumph of protocol over substance, but make no mistake: This meeting was a vital first step in thawing Sino-Japanese relations and lessening the potential for spiraling distrust between the world’s second and third largest economies. The trick now is to build on it.
FULL COMMENTARY (Huffington Post)
Photo: Xinhua/Yao Dawei
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A turbulent triangle: Beijing, Seoul, and Pyongyang | Matthias von Hein
Beijing’s relations to North and South Korea are a clear example that theory does not necessarily go hand in hand with practice. In theory, North Korea is supposed to be China’s closest ally. Over 50 years ago, both countries signed the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, thus committing themselves to defending one another in the case of conflict.
But in practice, China has had a troublesome relationship with its wayward “little brother,” especially after Pyongyang conducted a third nuclear test in February, despite Beijing urging it not to.
Since Kim Jong Un assumed power at the end of 2011, no foreign leader has so far visited North Korea
This prompted China to vote in favor of a UN Security Council resolution condemning North Korea’s actions and imposing sanctions against its regime. Pyongyang’s execution of Kim Jong-Un’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek - who was China’s most important contact among the North’s ruling elite - has further strained the relationship.
This development stands in stark contrast to Beijing’s relations to South Korea, which normalized in 1992. In a little more than two decades, South Korea has become China’s third-largest trading partner. One fourth of Seoul’s exports go to China, making it the country’s biggest trading partner. While bilateral trade stands at around 230 billion USD, South Korea currently enjoys a hefty trade surplus of some 60 billion USD.
FULL ARTICLE (Deutsche Welle)
Photo: Korea.net/flickr
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Kerry pushes China on North Korea’s nukes | Simon Denyer
Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Friday that China’s leaders told him that they were willing to put additional pressure on North Korea if it did not return to talks about abandoning its nuclear weapons program, but he acknowledged that Washington and Beijing took different approaches to the issue.
On a tour though Asia, Kerry said he held a constructive meeting Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. He said he urged China to “use every tool at its disposal” to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program.
But Washington-based China experts said Beijing was unlikely to push its longtime ally too far over the issue and remained unwilling to join a U.S.-led attempt to isolate the Pyongyang regime.
FULL ARTICLE (Washington Post)
Photo: Center for American Progress Action Fund/flickr
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“The cost of sustaining the Kim regime may have increased and the benefits may have declined. But the calculation remains that the potential consequences of cutting Pyongyang loose are unacceptable.” — Daniel Pinkston, Crisis Group’s Deputy Project Director for North East Asia, TIME -
Last week, Crisis Group’s Report Fire on the City Gate: Why China Keeps North Korea Close was featured in the Council of Foreign Relations Must Read List! You can check out the full report here!
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Central Asia: China Flexes Political and Economic Muscle | Joanna Lillis
Chinese President Xi Jinping is wrapping up a 10-day tour through Central Asia, having vacuumed up energy resources while digging into Beijing’s deep pockets to dispense largess and generate goodwill.
Xi’s visit to four Central Asian states (excluding Tajikistan) has reaffirmed Beijing’s rising clout in this energy-rich region, situated on China’s sensitive Western flank. Central Asian leaders – Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev; Kyrgyzstan’s Almazbek Atambayev; Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov; and Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov – welcomed Xi with open arms and barely a backward glance at Moscow, the region’s traditional colonial overlord. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has worked assiduously to try to prevent Central Asia’s tilt toward China, but Xi’s tour showed that Russia lacks the economic weapons to counter Beijing’s diplomacy in the region.
FULL ARTICLE (Euraisanet)
Photo: David Strakopf/Flickr
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Next Up After U.S.-China Talks: The Details | Wall Street Journal
By Thomas Catan, Colleen McCain Nelson, and Jeremy Page
“There are a lot of broad statements and lofty hopes but the devil is always in the details,” said Stephanie T. Kleine-Ahlbrandt, Northeast Asia project director and China adviser for the International Crisis Group. “We’ll have to see what comes out of the strategic and economic dialogue and what changes we see on the ground in terms of China’s relationship with North Korea.”
FULL ARTICLE (Wall Street Journal)
Photo: US Army MWR/Flickr
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Experts detail 5 challenges for China | CNN
By Hilary Whiteman
Hong Kong (CNN) – Well that’s that. After one week of mingling with elite Party loyalists, China’s Communist leaders have wrapped up their 18th National Congress.
The next will be in five years time when the presumptive new president – Xi Jinping – delivers his thoughts on the challenges, ambitions and threats facing the world’s most populous country.
His predecessor Hu Jintao fired a flare on the first day of the Congress about the threat of corruption and its power to potentially bring down China’s Communist regime.
“If we fail to handle this issue well, it could prove fatal to the party, and even cause the collapse of the party and the fall of the state,” he told delegates.
China’s next leaders: Who’s who
CNN asked five experts to explain what they see to be China’s most pressing challenge. It’s by no means a complete list, presented in no particular order.
Photo: Remko Tanis/Flickr
