It appears that realism—a view based on the assumption that states aim to maximize their own national interests in an international community where there is no world government—has never been as useful as it is when looking at the COVID-19 responses of each country.
On July 20, 2021, Taiwan's foreign minister announced a plan to open the “Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania,” a de facto embassy in one of the three Baltic countries with which Taiwan has no diplomatic relations.
The United Arab Emirates and the rest of the Gulf oil-producing countries, which abstained from the United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Russia in April, are reluctant to increase crude oil production further.
In a multipolar world, health cooperation is increasingly important in fighting the pandemic, especially as the lifting of restrictions in some parts of the world may cause further disparities.
The international community has searched for a solution to the secessionist conflicts in the former Soviet bloc that would respect both national self-determination and the existing national borders.
Since the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014 and the beginning of the fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed militants and the Ukrainian government, Ukraine has been subject to constant Russian military intervention.
There is one thing we can say for certain about the consequence of this war—owing to the experience of united resistance, the Ukrainians will survive as a nation.
China’s diplomacy with Afghanistan boils down to two goals—drive the U.S. troops out from its neighbor, Afghanistan, and tame the Taliban to cut off traffic between the Xinjiang Uighurs and other Islamic militants.
China, which has now become the largest trading partner to over 130 nations in the world, is able to exert influence for its own political and strategic interests by using its vast market power.
When the national security law for Hong Kong went into effect on June 30, 2020, I contributed a piece in the December 2020 issue of the “Seiron” magazine.
While the vast area across the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean is being recognized as a unique strategic space, the way of order in this "Indo-Pacific" region has become a major issue for the countries involved.
Since 2000, the Chinese government made overseas expansion its national strategy, with the government taking the lead to boost support for related policies.
The cover of The Economist (May 1 issue) caused a buzz as it depicted U.S. and Chinese military forces heading towards Taiwan on the center of a radar screen.
There are global companies in the water business so called water majors. For a long time from the 19th to the 21st century, Veolia Environment , Suez both of France, and Thames Water of the U.K. were the three companies called water majors.
As the Xi Jinping administration intensifies its confrontational stance towards the U.S., it is speeding up domestic production of semiconductors which are “the rice of industry,” in fear of decoupling from the international supply chain.
The Chinese consumer market in 2020 was hit hard by negative growth due to the impact of the spread of the new coronavirus infection at the beginning of the year.
As pandemics reach a climax, a number of phenomena are taking place that will determine the future course of the world. From a geopolitical point of view, the most important of these is the further escalation of tensions between the United States and China.
By Yutaka Iimura,Senior Fellow at GRIPS Alliance,Visiting Professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies,Former Ambassador of Japan to Indonesia and to France
With the attention on the moves by Europe amid the U.S.-China conflict, the IRSEM released a report on the information warfare waged by China around the world.
