Latest Articles about Foreign Policy
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Power Flows Downstream: Sino-Vietnamese Relations and the Lancang-Mekong River
China’s international rivers are becoming a focal point for contests over control of natural resources. China, in its powerful position as headwater nation, continues to actively promote hydropower development domestically and internationally. When downstream nations rely on un-dammed rivers for fisheries and irrigation, this puts... MORE
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One Belt One Road and East Africa: Beyond Chinese Influence
In October the Chinese Communist Party enshrined Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road Initiative” (OBOR) in its constitution. The move again demonstrates how the sweeping plan linking China and Europe via land and sea routes now is at the heart of China’s foreign policy and... MORE
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Taiwan Policymaking in Xi Jinping’s “New Era”
With the 19th Party Congress now complete, the “new era” (新时期) under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary and President Xi Jinping has officially begun. The quinquennial Congress endorsed Xi’s ideological framework and policy agenda—a roadmap of how Xi will lead China in his second... MORE
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Putin Hopes a ‘Ukraine for North Korea’ Trade May Be on the Table in Upcoming Meeting With Trump
In the coming days, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart from the United States, Donald Trump, are scheduled to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Đà Nẵng, Vietnam, where they may meet for an informal bilateral summit (see EDM, November 6). Putin’s... MORE
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North–South Transport Corridor: Russia Wins, Armenia Loses
Russian, Iranian and Azerbaijani presidents—Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani and Ilham Aliyev, respectively—held a trilateral summit in Tehran, on November 1. They stressed the necessity to complete the Resht–Astara railway as soon as possible, with a view to developing the North–South Transport Corridor (NSTC). The NSTC... MORE
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Belarus, Russia and the ‘Ukrainian Scenario’
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has never been our genuine friend, declares the Russian media outlet EurAsia Daily. According to an article there by Kirill Nemiga, in the early 1990s Lukashenka was ready to lead the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) but realized that its strand of... MORE
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Kremlin Ties Rosneft Closer to China
Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft continues to think big and strike major deals on the global stage. It recently announced a program to sell bonds worth 1.3 trillion rubles ($22.53 billion) (Vedomosti, October 26). This gargantuan bond sale will not be used merely for domestic... MORE
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Tehran Summit Appears to Open the Way to Delimitation of Caspian Sea
The November 1 tripartite summit in Tehran among the presidents of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan appears to have opened the way to resolving one of the most neuralgic problems of the post-Soviet era: the delimitation of the Caspian Sea among the five littoral states, the... MORE
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S-400 Dispute Highlights Ongoing Difficulties in Turkey’s Rapprochement With Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unexpected visit to Ankara, on September 28 (Kremlin.ru, September 28). The reason for Putin’s trip was to discuss with Turkish authorities a host of regional and bilateral issues: the northern Iraqi Kurdistan referendum; the establishment of a safe zone... MORE
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Putin Looks Forward to Meeting With Trump in Vietnam
Russia remains a dark cloud hanging over the White House, but United States President Donald Trump nevertheless intends to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit (November 5–11), in Da Nang, Vietnam. Investigations into Russia’s interference in the... MORE