December 2021: China's recent military and economic maneuvering demonstrates a sharpened focus on reshaping global order
December 13, 2021
Over the past few months, China has forged ahead with its plans for reshaping the global order and Johns Hopkins SAIS experts are commenting on Beijing's recent global strategic and economic maneuvers.
Daniel Hamilton, Foreign Policy Institute Senior Fellow, told Asia Times that China is not a distant place anymore, adding it has become a "player in Europe and has held military exercises in the Mediterranean and the Baltics."
Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, outlined how China’s location factors into its aggressiveness globally but cautiousness regionally in Engelsberg Ideas, writing "geography gives China the Eurasian reach that the Soviet Union enjoyed, but it is encircled by roughly 20 countries, most of which understand that their own security requires balancing Chinese influence."
Brands also examined the competition for military base placement between China and the U.S. in Bloomberg Opinion, predicting "this game of geopolitical cat and mouse is likely to last decades as Beijing tries to expand its overseas presence and Washington tries to block it."
Andrew Mertha, George and Sadie Hyman Professor of China Studies and the Inaugural Director of the SAIS China Global Research Center, commented in Time on the recent virtual summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden as tensions continue among the two nations, telling the outlet the meeting signals "a healthier new relationship that represents the closest the two countries have come to standing on an equal footing, at least optically."
Deborah Brautigam, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy and Director of the China Africa Research Initiative, and Reed Piercey, a China Africa Research Initiative Research and Communications Assistant, wrote about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s push for Germany and France to join a quad for business cooperation with African countries in East Asia Forum, pointing out that even if "European countries do not support the effort, China will still have signaled to the rest of the world that it is prepared to work in good faith with international partners."
Hong Zhang, a China Africa Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, told the Washington Post that Beijing is reorienting its diplomatic focus from the developed to the developing world to reduce reliance on Western markets and technology, as a means to "bypass some Western countries, or more specifically the U.S. in its supply chains."
Daniel Hamilton, Foreign Policy Institute Senior Fellow, told Asia Times that China is not a distant place anymore, adding it has become a "player in Europe and has held military exercises in the Mediterranean and the Baltics."
Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, outlined how China’s location factors into its aggressiveness globally but cautiousness regionally in Engelsberg Ideas, writing "geography gives China the Eurasian reach that the Soviet Union enjoyed, but it is encircled by roughly 20 countries, most of which understand that their own security requires balancing Chinese influence."
Brands also examined the competition for military base placement between China and the U.S. in Bloomberg Opinion, predicting "this game of geopolitical cat and mouse is likely to last decades as Beijing tries to expand its overseas presence and Washington tries to block it."
Andrew Mertha, George and Sadie Hyman Professor of China Studies and the Inaugural Director of the SAIS China Global Research Center, commented in Time on the recent virtual summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden as tensions continue among the two nations, telling the outlet the meeting signals "a healthier new relationship that represents the closest the two countries have come to standing on an equal footing, at least optically."
Deborah Brautigam, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy and Director of the China Africa Research Initiative, and Reed Piercey, a China Africa Research Initiative Research and Communications Assistant, wrote about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s push for Germany and France to join a quad for business cooperation with African countries in East Asia Forum, pointing out that even if "European countries do not support the effort, China will still have signaled to the rest of the world that it is prepared to work in good faith with international partners."
Hong Zhang, a China Africa Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, told the Washington Post that Beijing is reorienting its diplomatic focus from the developed to the developing world to reduce reliance on Western markets and technology, as a means to "bypass some Western countries, or more specifically the U.S. in its supply chains."
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