No serious effort to reset US-China relations at San Francisco summit

US President Joseph Biden held a Summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Woodside, California, November 15, 2023 The signal from the summit meeting between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in San Francisco on Wednesday is that a rocky year in the US-China relationship had a makeover in atmospherics. Serious differences remain and there …

Nijjar affair poses an existential dilemma

QUAD foreign ministers from US, Australia, India and Japan (from left to right) met in New York, September 22, 2023 The raging controversy over alleged involvement of the Indian government in the killing of Sikh plumber-cum-religious activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in faraway Canada is snowballing. Sensing that our elites are ultra-sensitive about western criticism, Canada, …

China shifts gear on Ukraine mediation

Russian-controlled Nuclear Power Plant in Zaporozhya region where  Ukrainian “counter-offensive” is expected (File photo) For all the noise out of Washington, more and more countries are integrating their supply chains with China. Even the UK Foreign Secretary is making overtures to China, while Zelensky had a “long and meaningful” phone call with Xi Jinping on …

Biden bullies China. But it won’t work

A Chinese balloon in the sky over Montana, USA, Feb 1, 2023 There is no question that the circumstances surrounding the “balloon affair” between the United States and China are dodgy. Burlesque does not belong to China’s diplomatic toolbox. China never used balloons to browbeat adversaries.  Unsurprisingly, expert opinion largely tends to go along with …

The G20 is dead. Long live the G20

US president Joe Biden (R) and Chinese president Xi Jinping met at Bali, Nov 14, 2022. Biden said they discussed their responsibility to prevent competition and find ways to work together. The seventeenth G20 Heads of State and Government Summit held in Bali, Indonesia, on 15–16 November stands out as a consequential event from many angles. The international politics …