Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, Sept. 13, 2016 (Lintao Zhang by photo via AP).

Vietnam’s prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, concluded a six-day state visit to China last week that included meetings with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and top legislator Zhang Dejiang. Phuc also attended the China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Nanning and made a business-focused visit to Hong Kong. But the trip’s primary focus was deepening economic and people-to-people ties, which have been strained in recent years by spillover from China and Vietnam’s disputes in the South China Sea. During Phuc’s meetings in Beijing, he and his Chinese counterparts seemed eager to de-emphasize those South China Sea […]

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 Summit, Hangzhou, China, Sept. 4, 2016 (AP photo by Ng Han Guan).

China has a growing terrorism problem. For many years Beijing believed it could avoid transnational extremism simply by staying out of the security affairs of other nations. But this no longer works. Just as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan found that leaving extremists alone did not protect them from terrorism, China is reluctantly being drawn into the conflict with global Islamic extremism. Two things are driving this. China’s growing international presence, both governmental and business, has set off an “antibody reaction.” Chinese nationals have become targets of terrorism simply because they are foreigners from a rich great power, rather than because […]

U.S. warships participate in a bilateral training exercise in the South China Sea, May 10, 2015 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class John Philip Wagner via Flickr).

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and host Peter Dörrie discuss the resignation of Mexico’s finance minister, the prospects for Gabon’s opposition after that country’s contested election, and the EU’s ruling on Apple’s back taxes in Ireland. For the Report, Hugh White joins us to talk about great power rivalry and the risk of war in the Asia-Pacific between the U.S. and China. Listen:Download: MP3Subscribe: iTunes | RSS Relevant Articles on WPR: Mexico’s Economic Malaise, Not Just Trump Visit, Forced Finance Minister Out Cards Stacked Against Gabon’s Opposition in Election Challenge to Bongo EU Ruling on […]

A Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine during a fleet review to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of People's Liberation Army Navy, April 23, 2009 (AP photo by Guang Niu).

Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing WPR series inviting authors to identify the biggest priority—whether a threat, risk, opportunity or challenge—facing the international order and U.S. foreign policy today. The most urgent priority in international affairs today is to avoid a war between the United States and China. The consequences of such a war, military as well as economic, would be so vast as to dwarf all the other serious perils the world faces. Of course, a war is far from inevitable, but the risk is real, and much greater than most observers seem to realize, especially […]

French President Francois Hollande and his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang during a welcoming ceremony, Hanoi, Vietnam, Sept. 6, 2016 (AP photo by Hoang Dinh Nan).

On Tuesday, Francois Hollande became the first French president in 12 years to visit Vietnam, a former French colony. Despite their troubled past marked by a nearly decade-long war that ended with France’s military defeat and withdrawal from Vietnam in 1954, relations between Paris and Hanoi have warmed during Hollande’s presidency, part of France’s deepening interest in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific more broadly. By a number of measures, the visit was a productive one. Vietnam Airlines purchased 40 jets from France’s Airbus, totaling $6.5 billion in sales; low-cost private airline VietJet purchased 20 planes, totaling $2.39 billion; a regional […]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the G20 Leaders Summit, Hangzhou, China, Sept. 4, 2016 (AP photo by Wang Zhao).

During a visit by Bhutan’s foreign minister to Beijing last month, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said that his government hoped to establish official diplomatic relations with its neighbor and work to solve their long-running border dispute. In an email interview, Tilak Jha, a doctoral student at Jawaharlal Nehru University, discusses China’s outreach to South Asia. WPR: How extensive are China’s ties across South Asia, and how does China’s South Asia outreach fit with its broader foreign policy? Tilak Jha: Beijing’s South Asia policy has two major aims, reinforced by the region’s role in China’s ambitious infrastructure and integration initiative […]