Analyses
China
Beyond the West: China’s Strategic Push with BRICS and Belt and Road
Giovanni Panzeri 4 November 2024
In the past decade, China has emerged as a strategic contender to the US-led international system, actively reshaping global economic and geopolitical dynamics. This repositioning has unfolded through China’s proactive involvement in the BRICS+, the launch of the One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR, or Belt and Road Initiative), and, more recently, through a concerted push to mediate in crises worldwide, capitalizing on both political and economic opportunities. Reset DOC discussed these developments with Claudia Astarita, a professor of Chinese Studies at Science Po University in Paris.
  • Chinese-English Communication Risks: Can We Bridge the Semantic Gap?
    Seán Golden 5 August 2024
    Cultural plurality is the playing field of international affairs. Ignoring this fact runs the risk of continuous communication failure. Concepts and the terms used to express them have connotations that are rooted in their native context. Often there are cultural equivalents in other cultural contexts that share these connotations. But often enough, the equivalents do not exist, or the connotations do not coincide.
  • The Dalai Lama’s Visits to Taiwan Intertwined with Cross-Strait Relations
    Kristina Kironska 5 June 2024
    The Dalai Lama has visited Taiwan three times – in 1997, 2001, and 2009 – and there are calls for his return. Since his first visit, Tibetan Buddhism in Taiwan has grown significantly. The total number of Tibetan Buddhist centers has increased from 82 in 1996 to 473 in 2018, while the community of Tibetan Buddhists soared to approximately half a million. From this perspective, the Dalai Lama’s visits to Taiwan have achieved their goal of disseminating Tibetan Buddhism, making his potential return to Taiwan of paramount religious significance. But there is also a political significance to his visits.
  • Hijacked Discourses Impede Cultural Plurality in International Affairs
    Seán Golden 24 April 2024
    Jürgen Habermas’ theory of civic discourse imposes binding rules on debate in order to subsequently bind behavior. Perhaps this could be extended to international affairs. Scholar Wang Minmin advocates establishing “a set of negotiable yet binding communicative rules and values, [and] world opinion [that] would both allow civic discourse and act as the binding power of an international norm.” Such an approach would require “that we must first acknowledge the differences in moral orders on both sides, but then also move beyond this to realize the common ground on which both sides stand.”
  • What did the 2024 Double Legislative Session Reveal in China
    Seán Golden 25 March 2024
    From March 4 to 11, 2024, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress held their annual joint double session, Lianghui (两会) in Chinese. The former is the highest legislative body in China’s governmental structure. The latter is the highest advisory body. In theory, all branches of government are subordinate to the National People’s Congress. In practice, government leaders present their work reports, and the Congress approves both the reports and the government’s accompanying proposals.
  • Myanmar’s Struggle for Freedom Three Years After the Military Coup
    Kristina Kironska 22 February 2024
    Three years after the failed military coup in Myanmar, there is genuine hope within the country for democratic resistance. By the end of 2023 and into the beginning of 2024, Myanmar reached a turning point, with significant successes achieved by the revolutionary movement, particularly on the battlefield. For the first time since the coup, there is a growing possibility that the resistance movement may prevail against the military dictatorship.
  • Understanding the Stakes in Taiwan’s 2024 Elections
    Alessandra Tommasi 12 January 2024
    Most people in Taiwan support maintaining the status quo in the island’s political dispute with mainland China for now (28.6 percent) or indefinitely (32.1 percent). Less than 8 percent support either unification with the PRC as soon as possible or maintaining the status quo while moving toward unification. Nearly 63 percent of the population feels “Taiwanese” and an even larger majority (84.3 percent) opposes a “one country, two systems” model, especially after Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong. Given these data, and that the PRC views the island as a “rogue” province and has vowed to eventually bring it back under control – not excluding military intervention – it is no surprise that mainland affairs and the relations with China are absolutely key to Taiwan’s upcoming elections.
  • The Russian Factor in China’s Imperative of Stability
    Seán Golden 10 July 2023
    China’s foreign policy faces complexity due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It seeks access to resources and markets for its development and aims to challenge the dominance of the US, EU, and NATO. China cannot support Russia nor back NATO’s leadership. It seeks stability through diplomacy and maintains strict political control. However, Putin’s invasion and NATO’s response create strategic headaches for China, affecting its carefully promoted multipolar world order. China’s stability seems more secure than Russia’s, but uncertainties remain amid the changing global landscape.
  • From China’s 1989 Protests to Memes: a Portrait of Jiang Zemin
    Seán Golden 30 November 2022
    Jiang Zemin’s death coincided with a wave of protests against the current Chinese government’s zero-COVID policy. He came to power in China as the result of waves of protest in favour of political reform in 1989. In contrast to the current situation, his period in power may be perceived to have been more open, but he repressed Falun Gong movement and never advocated for opening reforms
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