CHINA US Focus - Perspectives shaping the world's most important bilateral relationship

With major leadership transitions in the US and China this year, it is easy to become disheartened at the current state of the China-US relationship. However, despite some obvious disagreements, the relationship continues to strengthen and mature

Iran is a state with cultural, economic and political influence, and its relations with the West are crucial for global governance. Showing respect and building trust can never be more than enough.

On April 14 Iran returned to the negotiating table to address its nuclear issue with the members of the Six Nations talks.  Since revealing its clandestine nuclear development program in the early 2000s, the Iranian nuclear issue has become a perennial problem for the international community. It is true that Iran is entitled to civilian [...]

Beijing and Washington are not on the same page about how to deal with international trouble spots.  That problem became clear last month when China and Russia both vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and calling for an immediate end to the violence convulsing that country.  U.S. [...]

Iran has been hit with new Western sanctions that target Iran’s banks, oil and gas industry, and petrochemical industry. These sanctions followed the release of a November 8 report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which details alleged Iranian clandestine research on Iranian nuclear warheads and their means of delivery. Nonetheless, Russian and Chinese [...]

On November 8, 2011, the IAEA Board of Governors released its latest report on the “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of the UN Security Council resolutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran”.  To many who have predicted the post-releasing situation as more prone to a military strike by either the US [...]