Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
To succeed, the Quad needs to evolve from a China-focused club of four to a group of first movers on an array of specific functional challenges. The best way to do this is for the four countries to form the core of a rotating set of ad hoc problem-solving coalitions in the Indo-Pacific.
China’s 2020 trade surplus increased by a quarter over the previous year and foreign reserves have hit a near-five-year high. For the whole of 2020, GDP grew 2.3 per cent, much better than the 4 per cent to 10 per cent declines for the US and euro-zone economies.
China’s relationship with the West involves everything from nuclear weapons to climate change, and the stakes are high.
The 2021 Trade Policy Review comes out as a careful and guarded document, but it includes a push for realist and defense-based instruments alongside with “openness and engagement.”
All the complexities of trans-Pacific politics are being flattened into an escalating U.S.–China conflict. Just like polarization within a country marginalizes those who identify with neither pole, a polarized Pacific is one where the interests of even major players in Northeast and Southeast Asia get sidelined.
U.S. President Joe Biden has not yet indicated if he will reverse the Trump-era tariffs on China. In addition to the trade war, there are three key areas that may define Sino-U.S. ties under a Biden administration.
Nobukatsu Kanehara, Akio Takahara, Amy Searight, and Patricia M. Kim confer with James L. Schoff and Matake Kamiya on the evolving Japanese and American perspectives toward China and prospects in the year ahead.
Most U.S. policymakers tend to see their Japanese counterparts as alliance advocates, but other viewpoints may also shed light on what lies ahead for the U.S.-Japan alliance.
Ordinary Americans’ views of China have fallen in line with the skeptical views of U.S. policymakers on both sides of the aisle, with significant implications for the future of the bilateral relationship.
Just over one year since Xi and Modi’s last meeting, scholars will discuss the trajectory of China-India ties and provide recommendations to improve the relationship between Asia’s two largest countries.