In the news
Phase One U.S.-China trade deal announced. "The trade war with China has been a sobering experience for the White House," David Dollar said in an interview with the Guardian. "Trump’s staff believed tariffs would be a win-win and there would be a boost for domestic firms as well as a hit to China, but the first thing just didn’t happen. For the past year, U.S. manufacturing has been in recession and shedding jobs, despite the president’s tweets to the contrary."
Should the U.S. consider joining BRI? In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Jamie Horsley said that the project "is not going to go away," since "it’s [Chinese President] Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy initiative." Horsley added that the United States "should rethink joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank" as well.
China steps up its information war in Taiwan. Rush Doshi argues in Foreign Affairs that China's strategy to exercise political influence in Taiwan's recent presidential election is a test run for future campaigns elsewhere.
The end of Xi's Taiwan dream. Richard Bush was quoted in a Washington Post post-election piece on Taiwan's relationship with the mainland, saying, "I doubt that Beijing will reflect on the meaning of President Tsai's victory, but will double down on the coercive policies it deployed during her first term."
More trade deal analysis. In a Chinese interview with Phoenix Television, Cheng Li opines (starting at 8:12) on what this means going forward for the U.S.-China relationship.
