Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Analysts are increasingly skeptical that China’s very high reported GDP growth rate provides a meaningful picture of the economy’s health. There are, however, at least three very different ways that reported GDP can fail to reflect the underlying economy.
In the Balkans, just outside the EU, China is enjoying a different experience. Serbia claims to have become one of China’s best friends in Europe.
Trump is fixated on the United States’ bilateral trade deficit with China, but the United States–China impasse comes from much deeper differences in perceptions.
Both the United States and Japan take pride in their robust scientific research communities’ contributions. However, both governments are challenged to rethink their approaches to science and technology policy and set agendas that encourage innovation toward solving big social problems.
As Washington waits to see what Beijing has to offer and Beijing waits to see what Washington wants, a prolonged stalemate is a more likely outcome.
Portugal has found a way to grant China a fast-track lane toward Europe with a little shiny gold, as it now occupies a central role in China’s European geoeconomic strategy.
November 11, known in China as Singles’ Day, started out as a wry, tongue-in-cheek holiday. It has since become a major draw for online shopping, a profoundly Chinese celebration, and an expression of the country’s modern urban youth. But the rampant commercialization of Singles’ Day may one day come to be seen as a symbol of the era of China’s bubble economy.
U.S. policy has been, with respect to China, forming a bipartisan consensus in recent years. For Trump to think that a quick deal on trade problems was solved doesn’t seem consistent with the rest of the things his administration says.
Opinion polls in both Japan and the United States show continued strong support for their security alliance and economic relationship, but Trump administration trade policies, its withdrawal from international agreements, and its undermining of multilateral institutions is stressing bilateral ties in ways not seen in decades.
Chinese state-owned companies are using their financial leverage to build strongholds in Portugal, Greece and Italy. Many of the targeted countries are becoming soft supporters of China on the international stage.