HERMAN PENG analyzes Israel’s strategic partnerships with the US and China and offers advice for Israeli and American policy. Even to most well-versed readers of Chinese or Israeli history, Kaifeng and Shanghai probably bear little relation to Jewish history. These two Chinese cities — the former an old imperial capital tucked in Henan’s outer rim, the latter a megalopolis seated at the helm of China’s … Continue reading Shifting Sands: A Re-examination of Israeli Policy Regarding America and China

ADINA-LAURA ACHIM evaluates the warming relations between China and Southeast Asian nations. Southeast Asian nations like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and the Philippines have found a reliable partner in China, the second largest economy in the world. Yet, Western media has often portrayed these partnerships as examples of China’s manipulation and debt-trap diplomacy. Analyzing relations between China and Southeast Asian nations only through a geopolitical lens … Continue reading Southeast Asia’s Pivot to China

JEFFREY FU revisits the South China Sea dispute to explore how the interplay of international law, economic power, and territorial ambition may be transforming China’s strategy. On September 30, 2018, a Chinese Luyang-class destroyer cut across the bow of an American destroyer, the USS Decatur, coming within 45 yards of collision before the Decatur maneuvered to avoid catastrophe. Such brazen disregard for maritime safety and American … Continue reading Destroyers and Islands: The South China Sea and China’s New Strategy Abroad

ZHEYAN NI delves into Xi Jinping’s past to explain the present. In 1994, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s closest political aide and political strategist Wang Huning wrote in his diary, “Deng Xiaoping is practical and flexible while Mao Zedong is ambitious and idealistic.” Xi Jinping is trying to become both: a practical idealist leader of China. The highest figure of power in China always has a dual … Continue reading Enlightened Despot? Hybrid Legacy of Mao and Deng