Post-COVID India Must Foil China’s Designs

The Modi government in India is working hard to fight COVID-19 and save precious lives, both at home and abroad. However, it cannot afford to focus solely on the containment of the pandemic and the development of the national economy. The communist leadership in Beijing is taking advantage of India’s current predicament to advance its imperial aggression against the country, and this threat must be addressed.

Where Did COVID-19 Really Come From?

The questions of the true genomic origin as well as the direct source of the initial SARS-CoV-2 strain that infected Patient Zero in China, an event that ultimately unleashed COVID-19 on the world to devastating effect, are hotly debated and highly consequential. Both science and intelligence will contribute to uncovering the evidence needed to answer these questions conclusively.

It’s Time to Reform the World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) performed exceptionally poorly during the COVID-19 crisis, which was one of the greatest threats to global public health since the organization’s founding in 1946. It is high time that the WHO was reformed from the ground up. President Donald Trump is taking the first steps by threatening to pull all US funding from the organization, which has become beholden to China to such an extent that it either cannot or will not make independent decisions.

The China-Iran Deal: A Trial Balloon with a Clear Message

Hobbled by harsh US sanctions and a global economic downturn, Iran has discovered a new weapon: hot air in the form of a cooperation deal with China that carries messages to its opponents. China, albeit far less economically impaired, sees virtue in this arrangement too.

China and Iran Reach a New Stage in Their Strategic Partnership

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Tehran in January 2016 laid the foundations for the Iran-China comprehensive strategic partnership agreement. The two countries are now said to be in the final stages of negotiating an economic and security partnership that has military implications. This would create new and potentially dangerous flashpoints in the balance of power in the Middle East and would contribute to the ongoing deterioration of China-US relations.

The Iran-China 25-Year Plan: A Preliminary Assessment

Ofira Seliktar
July 21, 2020
Paper No. 1653

The newly announced Iran-China 25 Year Comprehensive Partnership is unprecedented in its scope. It contains a “mystery clause” that gives China control over how Iran spends its resources, which could ultimately amount to Iran’s selling its sovereignty to Beijing. The close military collaboration between the countries also has major implications for the decades-long US domination of the Gulf and large stretches of the Indian Ocean.

Syria Is Tempting, But Will China Bite?

China looms large as a potentially key player alongside Russia and Iran in President Bashar Assad’s post-war Syria. With Russia and Iran lacking the financial muscle and the US and Europe refusing to engage with the Assad regime, China is, from Syria’s perspective, a shining knight on a white horse. Syria could become a key node in China’s infrastructure, telecommunications, and energy-driven Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—but it could also drag China closer to the Middle East’s multiple conflicts.

The Chinese Application of the Security Law in Hong Kong—Why Now?

In 1997, after 156 years of British rule, the United Kingdom transferred responsibility for the city-state of Hong Kong to China. Twenty-three years later, in 2020, China enacted a security law that extends its powers over Hong Kong in contravention of the terms of that transfer. In doing so, Beijing is signaling its determination to expand its area of control and influence even in the face of international criticism.

The Chinese Media’s Take on US Unrest

The state-controlled Chinese media enthusiastically covered the protests and rioting attending the George Floyd killing. It compared the American protests to the protests in Hong Kong and used the rioting and violence in the US as evidence that the democratic system is hypocritical and morally bankrupt.

The Rise of the Indo-Pacific

Emil Avdaliani
July 12, 2020
Paper No. 1639

The world is witnessing the rise of a new geopolitical concept: the Indo-Pacific. The shift of American attention toward the Indo-Pacific could create more room for maneuver for Russia and Iran in their respective neighborhoods over the long term.