... of their national myths. Neither of them can objectively look at the future, without distorting their analyses by the subjective lenses of their perceived sense of superiority and mission. While as a Civilization-State with millennia of glorious past China feels entitled to a leading role, Americans feel challenged in their self perceived providential entitlement to be a “beacon for humanity”.
About the author:
Alfredo Toro Hardy is a Venezuelan retired diplomat, scholar and author. He has a PhD on International Relations and several master and postgraduate degrees. Before retiring from the Venezuelan Foreign Service, he was one of his country’s most senior career diplomats, having served as Ambassador to the United States, the United Kingdom,...
... Research Department at IEERCAS; Yury Kulintsev, IFES RAS Research Fellow; and Xu Poling, Head of the Department of the Russian economy at IEERCAS CASS.
Russian and Chinese experts discussed the effect of the new type of coronavirus epidemic (COVID-2019) on international relations, as well as the priorities in the development of Russia-China relations in the new environment.
During the discussion, experts pointed out that the pandemic revealed a number of global systemic challenges. As the potential for conflict and instability will only increase, mutual trust, constructive interaction,...
As the Western philosopher George Santayana said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
The controversial “Thucydides trap” argument has sparked a heated debate since 2013, when President
Xi Jinping
of China told a cluster of western guests: “We must all work together to avoid Thucydides’ trap.” Later, this concept was elucidated by Professor Graham Allison in his articles, talks and famous book
Destined for War: Can America and China Escape ...
... direction is clear and we have a detailed roadmap to follow.
I do believe that further elaboration of basic principles and main components of the Russian-Chinese cooperation is very important not only for our two states, but for the emerging system of international relations of the XXI century as well. This emerging system — on the global level as well as on the regional level — could be gradually built on similar partnerships — big and small, bilateral and multilateral. Of course, Russia and China should not try to impose their experience on anybody, but this experience is likely to be of interest to many international actors.
In fact, we already see that the Russian-Chinese experience has an impact on the international system: if you look ...
... concern within American corridors of power seems predicated on lazy assurance that no real rivals are emerging to learn from these ambiguities and obfuscations. The following evidence seems to indicate that might be the biggest mistaken assumption of all. China and Pakistan Most discussions of an immediate drone rival to the United States begin and usually end with China. At last count China supposedly had over 900 different types of drones, ranging from micro, blimps, unmanned combat air vehicles, and ...
... governmental perception behind Chinese and Russian command of cyberspace and their general cyber interaction with state authority. On the one hand, there is the assumption that this is a natural manifestation of the growing desire on the part of Russia and China to achieve global superpower status. On the other hand, there are the counter-arguments that emphasize China's and Russia’s own perception of inability to operate effectively against the United States in a conventional military confrontation....
... aspect of the debate that heretofore has been relatively ignored: that the futility of governmental innovation in terms of defensive efficacy is a relatively constant and shared weakness across all modern great powers (whether that be the United States, China, Russia, Iran, India, Great Britain, France, etc). In other words, every state that is concerned about the cyber realm from a global security perspective is equally deficient and vulnerable to offensive attack and therefore defensive cyber systems ...
The Intelligence Community, regardless of regime type, has famously always tried to co-opt and ultimately adopt advancements and evolutions in technology, especially in terms of media. Newspapers, radio, and television have long been appropriated in order to influence, massage, and outright manipulate messages and events important to the national interest. Often the question is not so much whether a country’s intelligence community engages in such activity but rather how explicit and open will...
... institutional design and internal agendas should call into question whether it should be classified as an IO at all. Renaming it a politically-motivated axis of convenience is less grand but perhaps a more accurate description of its nature and functions.
China
China's main position within Central Asia is economic, though certain security issues also exist. China is extremely interested in currying favor with Central Asia to help feed its voracious energy appetite. On the other hand issues of ...
While China has accepted human security as a new framework to study modern security challenges, it has been very busy trying to show how the implications of human security can be intrusive and even invasive of state sovereignty. Indicative of its confidence ...
