Last month, leaders of G-7 countries announced a new Build Back Better World (B3W) plan to support infrastructure projects in low- and middle-income countries and respond to China's Belt and Road Initiative. On the Dollar & Sense podcast, Howard French discusses the challenges facing the B3W plan and explains why the West would be better off competing in areas where it already has relative advantages.
Ryan Hass writes that the people of Taiwan should carefully weigh risks and benefits when deciding whether to reverse President Tsai Ing-wen's decision to allow pork from the United States to enter Taiwan's market in an upcoming referendum. He warns, "the fate of this referendum could go a long way toward determining Taiwan's trade competitiveness in the coming decade."
Reflections on the World Bank's work with China. David Dollar contributed to the World Bank's recent comprehensive report on its work with China over the past four decades. Dollar, along with Yukon Huang, reviewed the bank's work with China during the 2000s.
Responses to the pandemic economic recession. David Dollar writes that there were interesting differences in how authoritarian and democratic countries, especially China and the United States, shaped their stimulus policies in response to the pandemic economic recession. He notes, "the U.S. relied primarily on government borrowing, which was then used to support household consumption in various ways. China, on the other hand, directed credit to its corporate sector to support production."
By Rush Doshi, Director for China on the National Security Council and former China Center Fellow
In "The Long Game," Rush Doshi draws from a rich base of Chinese primary sources, including decades worth of party documents, leaked materials, memoirs by party leaders, and a careful analysis of China's conduct to provide a history of China's grand strategy since the end of the Cold War.
U.S.-China meeting in Tianjin. Prior to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's meeting with Chinese officials in Tianjin, Ryan Hass told Bloomberg that he expected both the U.S. and China to make sure discussions are forthright. "Given the current stresses in the relationship and the possibility of a meeting between both leaders at the G-20 in October, I suspect both sides decided to turn focus to matters of substance."
The Cold War analogy. The Washington Post interviewed Ryan Hass on the current state of U.S.-China relations. During the conversation, he explained that the Cold War is a poor analogy for understanding U.S.-China tensions because of the drastically different economic and political contexts of the time periods.
Europe and the United States differ on China. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken received a warm welcome during his trip to Europe last month but experienced mixed sentiments regarding China, reported the Los Angeles Times. Susan Thornton explained that "they don't see China as an existential threat nor even as the same level of danger that the U.S. does."
The John L. Thornton China Centerdevelops timely, independent analysis and policy recommendations to help U.S. and Chinese leaders address key long-term challenges, both in terms of U.S.-China relations and China's internal development.
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