China Archives - Page 28 of 78 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Blood on the Trackpads

by Peter Certo | May 12, 2011

It can be a peculiar and rather disquieting sensation to type on a laptop these days. As a personal computing device that is more or less portable, a laptop computer becomes an extension of the human being who hauls it about and operates it. The capabilities of the machine are grafted onto the hardware of the user, even as its constant physical presence renders it almost an appendage. How much truer this becomes in the age of the smart phone, which is more capable, more portable, and ever more affixed to the body that uses it.

After Osama: China?

by John Feffer | May 10, 2011

If the killing of Osama bin Laden were a Hollywood murder mystery, the shootout scene in Abbottabad would be followed by the unveiling of the sponsor who arranged for the al-Qaeda safe house. Is it the Pakistani intelligence officer who appears early in the movie to assure his U.S. counterparts that he is fully committed to bringing bin Laden to justice? Is it the Saudi construction magnate who owes several major favors to the bin Laden family? Or perhaps it’s the U.S. embassy official who, it might turn out, believes that Osama is more useful alive than dead — until finally, he is useful no longer.

Chinese Take-Over of South America?

by Sebastian Castaneda | Apr 18, 2011

In the wake of Obama’s recent tour of Latin America, media reports and commentators claimed that China has been economically outmuscling the United States in the region. The reality, however, is that Beijing’s economic presence has not come at the expense of the United States. Although Washington still maintains an overwhelming edge, its influence is decreasing. This decline will be exacerbated by Obama’s focus on boosting U.S. exports to the region rather than importing more of Latin America’s manufactured goods.

For $700 Million Mugabe Lets China Write Its Own Rules

by Michael Busch | Apr 1, 2011

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has let China write its own rules despite his demand that all foreign-owned mining ventures sell majority holdings to black Zimbabweans.

Imagine Disarmament and Nonproliferation Talks That Reward the State With More Nukes

by Russ Wellen | Mar 31, 2011

Severing the ties that bind disarmament and nonproliferation is not only bad policy, it’s an offense against common sense.

Is the Libya Intervention Directed at China?

by Conn Hallinan | Mar 25, 2011

The Chinese know why the U.S. is bombing Libya but not challenging Bahrain and Yemen: Bahrain hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and Yemen’s port of Aden provides access to the Red Sea.

Libya: Where Are the BRICs?

by Ben Zala | Mar 21, 2011

Following the vote at the UN Security Council, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States have embarked on military action against Gaddafi’s forces in Libya. They have been careful to include a few Arab states in this new coalition of the willing. But these three countries are the driving force behind the imposition of a no-fly zone and the attacks on the government’s military positions and forces. Yet among the permanent and non-permanent member of the Council who were asked to authorize “all necessary measures” to protect civilians rebelling against the regime, the BRIC powers of Brazil, Russia, India, and China were conspicuously absent.

True Reason for China’s Appeal to American Industry Even More Shameful Than Low Wages

by Russ Wellen | Feb 26, 2011

The real story of why American industry moves to China may never be told in the mainstream media.

Food Security and National Security

by Jim Harkness | Feb 23, 2011

Sounding the alarm about various threats posed by a rising China has become a cottage industry among pundits and politicians. One of the oldest warnings is that China’s increasing demand for food will wreak havoc on international markets, causing mass starvation in food-importing countries. But this concern ignores the safeguards China has in place for food shortages and the lessons the rest of the world could learn from this approach.

Beijing and Washington: Things That Go Bang

by Conn Hallinan | Feb 23, 2011

On the surface, the antagonism between China and the United States resembles the imperial competition between Britain and Germany at end of the 19^th century. But the world of 2011 is very different than in 1914. It is far more connected, far more interdependent, with the consequences from rivalries far more dangerous. Now every time either side brings in its military, tensions increase and solutions turn elusive.