Fentanyl, Russia trade spark new Sino-US friction

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Political tensions between Beijing and Washington have increased again after the Biden administration sanctioned 12 Chinese firms for shipments to Russia and two others for supplying chemicals illicitly used in Mexico to produce the opioid drug fentanyl for the US market. The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) last week amended […]Continue Reading

Japan’s G7 high-wire balancing act

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Japan hopes to contribute to global rule-making as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hosts the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies in Hiroshima on May 19-21. To do so, it will have to push an agenda that can ultimately shape Chinese behavior for the better, keep a distracted United States locked into a […]Continue Reading

Lessons from Chinese sanctions on Australian imports

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From May 2020, Beijing blocked the import of roughly a dozen Australian goods for which China was the major market, cutting imports worth around A$20 billion (US$13.4 billion) annually. The deteriorating political relationship between Canberra and Beijing was the proximate cause, but a trade deal between Beijing and Washington involving increased Chinese imports of US […]Continue Reading

India’s unemployment problem stifling its economic potential

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India, by some estimates, is the world’s most populous country and one of its most youthful. But as its population and economy expand – the International Monetary Fund projects the economy to grow by 6.1% this year, among the fastest in the world – so is the unemployment rate.  Unemployment stood at 7.45% in February, up from 7.14% […]Continue Reading

How Brazil’s Lula added a spring to Xi Jinping’s step 

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For Xi Jinping, last week was easily among the best the Chinese leader has had in a long while. First, French President Emmanuel Macron dropped by to talk up the merits of Europe forging a diplomatic path independent of the US. For good measure, Macron gave Beijing the impression Paris isn’t keen on coming to […]Continue Reading

The emerging new world economy

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The flags of the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – ripple in the breeze ahead of the summit. Photo: iStock

The emerging new always both frightens and inspires the fading old. History is evidence of that unity of opposites. Sharp-edged rejections of what is new clash with enthusiastic celebrations of it. The old gets pushed away even as bitter denials of that reality surge. The emerging new world economy displays just such contradictions. Four major […]Continue Reading