Jun 07 , 2017

When policymakers decide to deal with China, they should remember that Mao’s experience cast a long shadow over China’s history. His admiration for America in his youth as well as his later hopes for U.S.-China rapprochement was later negated by his perception of humiliation, invasion, and partitioning by foreign powers, resulting in his deep distrust of America. Whether anyone accepts it or not, this historical context rooted in the French Château will be the frame of reference, however subtle, for China when dealing with the West.

May 18 , 2017

During his historic visit to Sri Lanka in September 2014, President Xi Jinping described the island as a “splendid pearl” while the two countries signed over twenty bilateral agreements in Colombo. Symbolized by the Buddhist-inspired Lotus Tower on the waterfront of the picturesque Beira Lake in the commercial district, the globalizing BRI is reviving the ancient glory of “trade-for-peace” to bring about a more harmonious and prosperous “Pacific New World Order” for the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Apr 11 , 2017

Observing the changing dynamics in the United States and elsewhere in the world, the unsettling question is: Will the United States follow the experience of centralized Confucian power—and by default the Communist Party of China (CPC)—to create a Hamiltonian world for Hamiltonians?

Feb 16 , 2017

Apart from various niches of the political and academic intelligentsia, America’s relationship with China is one that continues to be largely and mutually beneficial but misunderstood, and one that is generally swept under the carpet in favor of America’s Euro-centric view of the world.

Jan 16 , 2017

As the TPP trade pact fizzles away, China would happily expand its domain of influence in the Pacific Rim region while U.S. allies and friends inevitably look for a more reliable partner in the neighborhood. As these geopolitical realities set in, will Trump’s campaign promises to “Make America Great Again” eventually result in “Making China Great Again” and leave the U.S. much less relevant?

Oct 24 , 2016

A closer look at the Maritime Silk Road plan suggests that materializing the ambitious initiative is facing several challenges due to grievances with some stakeholders in the Indo-Pacific. If China wants to materialize the initiative, it has to return to its so-called “Peaceful Rise.”