Shi Jiangtao

The United States ambassador to China is stepping down amid a spiraling rivalry between the world’s two largest economies, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicated on Twitter. If confirmed, the departure of Terry Branstad, whom Beijing once billed as “an old friend of the Chinese people,” would deal another blow to the deeply fraught US-China relationship amid fears of the Cold War-style confrontation, analysts said. “I thank Ambassador Terry Branstad for his more than three years of service to the American people as US Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China,” Pompeo tweeted overnight. “President Trump chose Ambassador Branstad because his decades long experience dealing with China mad

Beijing has dialled up the pressure on its Southeast Asian neighbors ahead of key talks in the South China Sea dispute, with a senior diplomat warning them against backing US efforts in the region. The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, have competing territoiral claims with China and one another in the resource-rich waterway. These countries are increasingly torn between China and the United States amid a growing risk of an all-out confrontation in the region. Tensions in the waters have escalated during a flurry of recent military activity by the feuding superpowers. The US has no claims in the region but has ramped up its patr

While Joe Biden’s campaign is pitching American voters a “return to normalcy” after the Trump era, few expect the same when it comes to US- China relations. While the former vice-president is currently ahead in the polls, many pundits expect the race to tighten. China is likely to become one of the key foreign policy areas where the two candidates look to gain an edge by exploiting their rival’s perceived vulnerabilities. Both Donald Trump and Biden once bragged about their connection to Chinese President Xi Jinping, but have markedly shifted their stance in the past few months, sparring fiercely over who will be tougher on the Communist Party. With the future hanging in the balance, Beijing

When senior Chinese and American diplomats met in Hawaii last month, for the first time in nearly a year, the stakes were unusually high amid fears their acrimonious tensions are drifting imperceptibly towards war. The secret meeting between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Yang Jiechi, the top diplomatic aide to Chinese President Xi Jinping, took place at Pearl Harbor. The military base was the scene of a pivotal moment for the US and world history when it was bombed by the Japanese nearly 80 years ago. The two superpowers are decoupling their economic and technological cooperation amid an unfolding new Cold War. Beijing and Washington have engaged in a global blame-game over the deadl

While China’s attention was fixed on a new Cold War with the United States, tensions on its troubled Himalayan border with India erupted last month in the deadliest clash in over 50 years. The fatal skirmish rubbed salt into an old wound that has refused to heal since the 1962 border war, and raised questions about China’s strategic calculations about the rise of India. It also prompted fears about armed conflicts, and worries that the nuclear powers may find themselves in a deadly manifestation of the Thucydides Trap. The much-debated concept, which was coined by Harvard professor Graham Allison in reference to the possibility of military confrontations when a rising power threatens a domin

When thousands of China’s elites flock to Beijing for the delayed national legislative session starting on Friday, they will face a renewed debate about relations with the US. Specifically, can armed conflict between the two economic superpowers be avoided?  The question has taken a new urgency as acrimony escalates between Washington and Beijing amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The question is also known as the Thucydides trap: an ancient Greek analogy that Harvard professor Graham Allison has popularized. In his 2017 book, Allison argued that wars were often unavoidable when a rising power challenges a ruling power. While observers mostly agree that an all-out war between the nuclear-armed nati

China’s diplomats are fighting an uphill battle to fend off intensifying criticism from Beijing’s critics of the country’s initial mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. In recent weeks, some of the country’s most seasoned ambassadors have found themselves engaged in a war of words with their host countries.  But rather than adopting the traditional approach of managing tensions through diplomatic protocols, many of them have risen to the call of Chinese President Xi Jinping and displayed their “fighting spirit” – often at the expense of China’s global image, pundits say. Last week alone, at least seven Chinese ambassadors – to France, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and the Afri

The new coronavirus has killed over 200,000 people and nearly ground the global economy to a halt. The next ripple effect could be a new Cold War, this time between China and the United States. Although it remains unclear when and how the pandemic will end, Beijing is preparing for an international backlash of blame over the disease outbreak and appears ready to push back, according to analysts. Chinese authorities have kick-started an internal process to solicit advice from think tanks, academics and others on how to deal with an increasingly adversarial global environment, said a government adviser who declined to give his name. At the same time, the devastating human toll and suffering c

Olga Jonas worked as an economic adviser at the World Bank at a time when hundreds of staff focused on the global threats from climate change.  During the same period, as few as two people were looking at risks from disease pandemics. Jonas was one of them. She spent seven years at the bank coordinating the organization’s response to global avian and pandemic flu threats between 2006 and 2013, and it was an uphill fight to get attention, according to a report she wrote for the International Monetary Fund in 2014. “Although a recent World Bank report identified pandemics as one of the three major global risks – together with climate change and financial crises – most official discussions, re

Beijing has warned Chinese citizens not to travel to the United States, in what analysts said is a political move that will worsen already heightened tensions between the two powers. In a travel advisory released on Monday, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism cautioned against visiting the US, citing its “overreaction” to the coronavirus outbreak and the “unfair treatment” Chinese tourists received in the country. “Do not travel to the US,” the ministry said in a notice. This appeared to be a direct response to Washington’s decision nearly a month ago to deny entry to foreigners who have been to China within the past 14 days.  Since the outbreak, more than 60 countries have imposed some