Mongolia’s hands tied by Russia-China reliance

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Mongolia’s domestic party politics, international relations and economy all faced challenges in 2022. The Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) wrestled with how to govern despite having a supermajority in Mongolia’s parliament, the State Great Khural, and how to position itself vis-a-vis Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The government staked its fiscal fortunes on reviving coal […]Continue Reading

Cold War ties still bind Russia and South Africa

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The recent announcement that the South African, Russian and Chinese navies will conduct joint exercises off the east coast of South Africa between February 17 and 27, has alarmed the United States. Washington has condemned the decision as the exercises would appear to compromise South African neutrality in the diplomatic controversies surrounding the war in […]Continue Reading

McCarthy’s House rule is a gift to China

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TOKYO – In a year littered with economic and geopolitical landmines, China has at least one reason for optimism: Kevin McCarthy. Observers are plenty busy detailing why the US House of Representatives swinging to Republican control adds to Xi Jinping’s long list of headaches. Among the biggest: the risk has never been higher that Washington […]Continue Reading

Central Asia in a precarious great power vacuum

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China’s modest response to it, has placed the governments of Central Asia in an unenviable position — aware that Russia does not fully respect their sovereignty and has no qualms about using force while recognizing that no one would provide sufficient assistance if they became a target of Russian aggression. […]Continue Reading

Electric vehicles now mainstream, but no silver bullet

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Electric vehicles are finally going mainstream. After decades of waiting for the EV revolution, more and more people worldwide are finally driving them. Driven by strong growth in China and Europe, EV sales crossed a critical milestone in 2022 with 10% of the global vehicle market share. As more governments, large and small, look to promote electric-vehicle […]Continue Reading

China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway back to life

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On Thursday, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Transport announced that “representatives of Uzbekistan’s Temir Yollari JSC, the national railway company, arrived in the Kyrgyz Republic to participate in the opening of a joint Project Office to coordinate the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway.”  This news was not an isolated event but rather further confirmation that […]Continue Reading

Will US outreach to China’s next-gen leaders bear fruit?

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On the eve of China’s next generation of leaders formally taking office for President Xi Jinping’s third term, set to start in early March, the Joe Biden administration has stepped up its efforts to engage the new leaders. The latest among these was US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He […]Continue Reading