A leaked draft security agreement seemingly proves Chinese spending ‘bought’ enough influence to get the Solomon Islands government. But such an interpretation misses two key issues.
The conflict highlights the folly of nations exiting nuclear power while continuing to use coal, gas and oil.
Allies? Or client and patron: Belarus president, Alexandr Lukashenko, and Russian president, Vladimir Putin, after Kremlin talks in February 2022.
EPA-EFE/Sergey Guneev/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
China has not pulled its brands out of Russia, but is not offering to fill the holes western sanctions are leaving.
In recent years, the Chinese government has used scholarships to shape the views of Indonesian Muslim students on issues such as the mistreatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China.
(ANTARA FOTO/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
In recent years, the Chinese government has used scholarships to shape the views of Indonesian Muslim students on controversial issues such as the mistreatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Territorial ambitions: in his speeches and writings, Vladimir Putin has indicated an ‘empire complex’.
EPA/Dmitry Astakhov/pool
The Russian government used disinformation to fabricate a justification for invading Ukraine. A new campaign focused on biowarfare claims threatens to escalate the conflict.
Supply chains were already in disarray thanks to overcongested ports, as in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
In the short term, the war is causing energy prices to soar and prompting fears of famine in some countries. In the long term, it could remake the modern global supply chain.
A friendship far from flagging?
Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Joseph Torigian, American University School of International Service
Beijing and Moscow have had a cozy relationship of late. A scholar of China-Russia diplomacy explains how Ukraine might affect that.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo before their talks in Beijing, China, Feb. 4, 2022, during the Winter Olympics.
(Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
China’s policy of strategic ambiguity could allow it to mediate the conflict at an opportune time, while furthering its long-term geostrategic goals.
Russias Novovoronezh plant in central Russia which is a sister project to Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant.
Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Experts around the world have been warning nuclear weapons are increasingly being seen as ‘usable’ by the political and military leaders who wield them.
NATO has struggled to remain unified in recent years.
NATO via Flickr
Scott Morrison and his ministers have strongly attacked China over its failure to denounce Russia’s attack on Ukraine or to use its influence to press President Putin to pull back.