Contents: Hindernisse auf der Seidenstraße +++ Schuldzuweisungen in der Schuldenkrise +++ Europeans consider economic relationship with China as bearing more benefits than risks +++ „The Future of Geopolitics Will Be Decided by 6 Swing States“ +++ Chinese Investments and Labour Struggles in Indonesia +++ Internationale Solidarität aufbauen! +++ Cambodia: Benefits and Costs of participation in BRI +++ „Guardians of the Belt and Road“ +++ The risks and rewards of economic sanctions +++ Preparing for or preventing war with China
Tag Archives: Southeast Asia
Newsletter 2/2023
Contents: Wird Europa zur Kriegspartei im Chip-‚Krieg’? +++ Philippinen: Kurskorrektur in Beziehungen zu Washington +++ Tauwetter zwischen Australien und China +++ Laos: Auf dem Weg zur Kolonie? +++ Nigeria: Lernt Belt&Road Public Private Partnership? +++ Myanmar: China an der Seite der Militärjunta +++ Chinesische Palmölgeschäfte in Indonesien +++ Asiatisch gelesene Stand up-Comedians +++ Quote: ‚Ground Zero’
Newsletter October 2022
CONTENTS: Posts: Upgrade for Belt&Road to BRI 3.0? / The Dance Around China’s Overseas Projects // News: Russland und China bauen Brücken in Fernost / Mongolei: Kooperation mit Skylla und Charybdis // Countercurrents: China-Watch / Environmental Justice Atlas / Internationale Solidarität mit ‚Riders’ in China // Reviews: Redefining Asia as ‚Indo-Pacific’
USA-China: Striving for friends
Applying the principle ‘winner takes all’ to the competition between China and the USA would probably mean, according to widespread view, that the one of them takes over world hegemony, either ‘authoritarian’ or ‘free’. However, the situation is far from that point, and the battle between the two rivals is continuing to rage unabated.
Triple Catch-22 with Myanmar
One year after the coup in Myanmar, the brutality of the military regime is growing, but so is armed resistance. And civilian protests are also still going on. For Beijing, the situation is becoming increasingly uncomfortable: comments and assessments on the anniversary show that the Gordian knot has, if anything, become even more tangled.
Newsletter December 2021
CONTENTS: Posts: ‘Dual Circulation Strategy’: China’s „new development model“ / Numbers mystique at ChinAfrica Forum // News: Europe’ response to Belt&Road: ‘Global Gateway’ / 20th Anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation / Debt debate: Highway to Disinformation? / Frigate ‚Bayern’ demonstrates to Beijing where the hammer is hanging // Readings: Changes in Beijing’s economic involvement: Adaptation and Agency.
Newsletter November 2021
CONTENTS: Posts: Beijing reports boom in foreign trade / Konflikte um das Südchinesische Meer // News: Courting the Bride Africa / Under Observation by the Regional Rival / Kämpfe entlang der Seidenstraßen / Webinar: China and the World // Reviews: Patrick Bond, China’s Role in Africa’s Development / Zeitschrift ‘Wissenschaft und Frieden’: Chinas Welt? – Konflikte und Kooperation.
Indo-Pacific: Europe’s geopolitical ghost ride
It may sound like a matter of routine: The German frigate ‘Bayern’ is about to set sail and spend several months cruising in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. The Defense Ministry merely wants to see this just as a “sign” to fly the flag where Germany’s “values and interests are affected”. However, behind this there is a fundamental paradigm shift.
Militarization: Adventure Trip to the Pacific
The deployment of the frigate ‚Bayern’ to a cruise in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in summer this year is intended to lend substance to the “Guidelines on the Indo-Pacific” adopted by the German government last September and to the pronouncements of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Minister of Defense, that it “will expand its commitment to security policy to the Indo-Pacific”.
RCEP: „Blood, Sweat, and Tears“
When fifteen Asia-Pacific countries signed the free trade agreement RCEP in Mid-November it was an event with exceptional dimensions: It creates an economic zone with a population of 2.2 billion people and around one third of the world’s economic output. There are three of Asia’s four leading economies – China, Japan and South Korea – first time together involved.