Economics & Business Archive

After winning the October 2013 elections, the new Coalition government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott inherited the difficult task of readjusting Australia’s strategic and defense policy. Power shifts in Asia have already begun to challenge fundamental aspects of Australia’s strategic posture. The rise of China and the relative decline of the U.S. position in the Asia-Pacific region potentially put Australia in a difficult position: that of maintaining close relations with both its major ally, the United States, and its most important trading partner, China. If Sino-U.S. relations become even more competitive, Canberra could find itself between a rock and a […]

China’s decision to establish an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) that encompasses its disputed islands with Japan is yet another attempt to expand its territorial claims by presenting neighboring countries with a fait accompli. These power plays aim to augment China’s regional position over time without provoking a major military confrontation or countervailing coalition. But in this case Beijing may have overreached and scored an own goal. Over the past few months, China has engaged in a sustained diplomatic campaign to exploit tensions between Seoul and Tokyo. As part of this effort, Beijing has deftly used its influence over North […]

For many in Washington, last month’s two-week shutdown of the federal government is already ancient history, replaced by a focus on the travails of the Obamacare website and feverish speculation about Hillary Clinton’s prospects as a presidential candidate in 2016. But the aftershocks of the shutdown continue to reverberate around the world. In particular, there is concern that President Barack Obama will have difficulty getting Congress, particularly a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, to vote in favor of giving his administration the flexibility it will need to conduct delicate negotiations, both with foes as well as with friends. The continuing negotiations […]

Fans of the television drama “Homeland” might have been surprised when in a recent episode one of the protagonists surfaced in Venezuela as a guest/prisoner of a sinister gang living in a crowded and dilapidated half-built Caracas high-rise. The espionage show normally focuses on Middle East terrorists and the CIA agents chasing them. But Venezuela’s strife and the sheer strangeness it produces proved hard to resist. The depiction, with its post-apocalyptic overtones was, of course, fictional, even though thousands of squatters do live in unfinished buildings in Venezuela, and crime levels are a growing threat. But there is no escaping […]

Hondurans will vote Sunday, Nov. 24, in a presidential election that polls suggest is too close to call. U.S. interests are plainly at stake, but this has less to do with the individual who may end up being elected than with the legitimacy of the election itself and how the new president, once in office, chooses to govern. In what should be a clarifying and unifying election, the electorate instead is polarized, and at least three of the leading candidates are each convinced they will win. Official results may not be known for a week or more after the election; […]

The Chinese government has been unabashedly showing off its nuclear weapons this past month. The most noteworthy display was unprecedented TV coverage in late-October of China’s nuclear submarines conducting combat drills, accompanied by a photo spread profiling the subs’ activities. Chinese media justified the display as reinforcing deterrence against foreign threats and meeting Western demands for military transparency. One can debate whether this selective transparency, which builds on previous exposures of China’s new stealth planes and other new military capabilities, is meant as a warning to Washington and Tokyo not to challenge Beijing’s territorial claims, a message primarily for internal […]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently visited Istanbul to mark the opening of the Marmaray, a mammoth tunneling project connecting Europe with Asia beneath the waters of the Bosphorus. Constructed at a cost of more than $4 billion, the project is an iconic example of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grand vision for Turkey. More ambitious still is Erdogan’s plan to build an extensive nuclear power program, virtually overnight, in a country that currently has no nuclear power plants. The prime minister hopes to have two nuclear power plants, with four reactors each, online in time for the Turkish Republic’s […]

While Michele Bachelet is all but certain to win a second, nonconsecutive term over Evelyn Matthei in Chile’s Nov. 17 presidential election, the long-term implications of Bachelet’s victory are still to be written. The election will be a watershed in Chile’s 23-year-old democracy, and not just because it will be the country’s first presidential election held without mandatory voting. A realignment of political forces and the emergence of a new generation of young politicians have pushed a new reform agenda, which Bachelet has tried to capture in a series of constitutional and tax reform proposals. The shifts are certain to […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip this week to Vietnam and South Korea, which follows last week’s unprecedented foreign and defense ministerial meeting in Japan, testifies to Moscow’s continuing efforts to raise its profile in Asia. Last year, Russia hosted its first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference; the previous year, it joined the East Asian Summit. Half of Russia’s arms exports flow to Asian countries, which also buy Russia’s oil and gas as well as its civil nuclear technologies. Like their Western counterparts, Russian analysts consider that demographic, economic and other trends will make the Asia-Pacific the world’s most important region […]

In the aftermath of the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program over the weekend, too much emphasis is being placed on the “failure to reach a deal” and not enough on the fact that leaving Geneva without a signed agreement represents not a breakdown, but simply a strategic and in all likelihood short pause. Furthermore, there has been very little precision as to what the deal currently being hammered out in Geneva represents. It would help if the word “interim,” “preliminary” or “confidence-building” were systematically placed in front of the word “deal,” as that’s what is under discussion for the time […]

Globalization is predominantly thought of as a benign force offering greater opportunities for trade, communication and technological innovation. Yet globalization has developed a dark side, exploited by malicious actors like drug and human traffickers, terrorists and WMD proliferators. Globalization has done more than just provide these actors tools for conducting their trade; it has created an entirely new breed of crime, where illicit activities converge and the drug trafficker may also be the terrorist or the proliferator, or both. One recent example of this growing confluence of transnational security threats is Panama’s recent seizure of the North Korean cargo ship […]

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently met with his Bangladeshi counterpart Dipu Moni, in part to advance a proposed Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor. In an email interview, Nimmi Kurian, associate professor at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi and India representative at the India China Institute at the New School in New York, explained the BCIM proposal and its vision for regional integration.* WPR: What is envisioned in the proposed BCIM Economic Corridor? Nimmi Kurian: The BCIM Economic Corridor is a proposal being actively considered by both the governments of India and China to promote subregional cooperation among […]

Like with so many of its other neighbors, Turkey’s relations with Iraq have been something of a roller-coaster ride over the past few years. Initially benefitting from Ankara’s now-defunct “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy, Turkey-Iraq relations were on the upswing until early 2012, when they quickly deteriorated and came close to hitting rock bottom. In recent weeks, though, both Ankara and Baghdad have started singing a different tune, in what appears to be to be an effort to bring their relations back from the brink and start working together again on mutual interests and concerns, particularly regarding the situation […]

This week, the Philippines announced it would investigate reports of worker abuse in Saudi Arabia, while last month, Ethiopia imposed a six-month ban on its workers traveling to Saudia Arabia, citing worsening labor conditions. In an email interview, Zahra Babar, assistant director for research at the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University’s school of foreign service in Qatar, explained efforts to address the conditions of migrant workers in the Persian Gulf states. WPR: What are the main countries of origin for migrant labor in the Gulf states, and what industries do they work in? Zahra Babar: Current […]

On Nov. 4, French President Francois Hollande received his Tunisian counterpart, Moncef Marzouki, at the Elysee Palace to discuss bilateral ties as Tunisia continues in its halting democratic transition. The visit coincided with yet another stalemate in recently renewed political talks within Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly (NCA), the body formed in 2011 to draft the country’s new constitution. The 2011 Tunisian uprising that resulted in the ouster of former dictator Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali marked a new chapter for French-Tunisian relations, born out of colonial ties and maintained today through economic partnership. Amicable relations with Ben Ali flourished particularly under […]

Turkey’s decision to buy a Chinese-made air-and-missile defense system has aroused undue anxiety about Ankara’s ties with Beijing. While the purchase of the untested Chinese system is unhelpful from the perspective of NATO interoperability as well as Turkey’s protection, Ankara and Beijing see the deal primarily as a business transaction rather than as a precursor to closer security ties. The Chinese firm simply offered better co-production, technology transfer and pricing terms than did the competitors. Turkey’s acquisition program aims to establish a national air-and-missile defense system that can intercept incoming ballistic missiles inside the atmosphere. On Sept. 26, after years […]

In April, the China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) announced the export of two ACP-1000 reactors to Pakistan, plans subsequently confirmed by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in June. In addition to reaffirming China’s commitment to one of the most important aspects of its “all weather” strategic relationship with Pakistan, the move also heralded an expansion of Chinese nuclear exceptionalism, underpinned by China’s growing confidence in its domestic industrial and international financial strength. While the deal is clearly in direct contravention of China’s commitments as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), it remains to be seen if other NSG […]