https://www.scmp.com/rss/302573/feed Zha Daojiong is a professor at the School of International Studies, Peking University. His areas of expertise include the politics of China’s international economic relations, particularly the fields of energy and natural resources, development aid and the economics-political nexus in the Asia-Pacific region. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The China-US counternarcotics working group met recently in Beijing, with planned follow-up meetings in Washington in the spring. The meeting was uneventful and is a sign of positive development in the two countries’ political relationship. For these efforts to sustain their positive momentum, it is essential for both sides to work hard on depoliticising the group’s work down the road. Critics could argue that even counternarcotics is inherently political in nature. After all, formal cooperation... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3251844/china-us-cooperation-fentanyl-shows-value-putting-politics-aside?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3251844/china-us-cooperation-fentanyl-shows-value-putting-politics-aside?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Feb 2024 08:30:12 +0000 Fentanyl features prominently in high-level exchanges between the US and Chinese officials and, of late, has become a must-mention topic. As recently as in August, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo identified the combating of fentanyl as among pressing challenges such as artificial intelligence and climate change that require cooperation with China, during her trip to Beijing. In anticipation of a meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3239734/against-fentanyl-scourge-us-and-china-have-good-reason-join-forces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3239734/against-fentanyl-scourge-us-and-china-have-good-reason-join-forces?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2023 07:30:20 +0000 Resumption of cooperation in public health was not highlighted as a deliverable following the recent meeting in Beijing between US and Chinese diplomats, but it deserves a concerted effort from both sides to keep up the momentum. Days before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip, senior officials from American and Chinese drug regulatory authorities met in Beijing and “exchanged views on cooperation for 2023 and in the future”. That meeting marked an end to the suspension of contacts... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3225115/no-reason-us-and-china-cant-renew-cooperation-health-sciences-and-combating-opioid-misuse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3225115/no-reason-us-and-china-cant-renew-cooperation-health-sciences-and-combating-opioid-misuse?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jun 2023 17:00:18 +0000 The meeting between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Bali G20 summit indicates a commitment to prevent the US-China relationship from spiralling downwards. Observers are right to see the challenges ahead as structural. But is “coexistence 2.0” a useful framing to adopt? After World War II, “peaceful coexistence” was commonly seen as Soviet phraseology for framing its relations with the West: keep open channels of communication with the United States and western Europe... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3201273/why-framing-us-china-ties-cold-war-style-coexistence-doesnt-help?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3201273/why-framing-us-china-ties-cold-war-style-coexistence-doesnt-help?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Nov 2022 19:30:10 +0000 Is the Global South a new arena for competition between China and the West? Developments such as the first US-Pacific Island Country summit in Washington last month are widely viewed as a sign that the contest has begun. The summit was a pointed reaction to China’s security agreement with the Solomon Islands in April, followed by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to eight Pacific countries. But it is useful to note that “Global South” is not standard Chinese vocabulary in framing the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3197366/how-better-understand-chinas-development-policies-global-south?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3197366/how-better-understand-chinas-development-policies-global-south?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Oct 2022 19:30:10 +0000 Can “recoupling” be an option in managing the volatilities in China-US economic ties? US Trade Representative Katherine Tai raised the idea earlier this month at a talk to unveil the results of the Biden administration’s review of Trump- era China trade policies. Chinese ambassador Qin Gang picked it up a few days later. But, realistically, how can the two economies “recouple”? Is the catchphrase even useful? Let’s begin by going over the metaphors used to describe policy orientations. In... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3153393/after-all-talk-us-china-decoupling-why-recoupling-makes-perfect?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3153393/after-all-talk-us-china-decoupling-why-recoupling-makes-perfect?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Oct 2021 22:45:21 +0000 Earlier this month, Chinese diplomats proposed a set of biosecurity guidelines at a United Nations meeting in Geneva. Against the backdrop of continuing international tensions over the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, the initiative risks losing traction. Yet, if biosecurity is too sensitive for the time, it still deserves broad support. It should be an icebreaker in the diplomatic stalemate on cooperation between Chinese and foreign scientists. World Health Organization documents describe... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3148454/amid-tensions-over-covid-19-origins-china-and-world-need-cooperate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3148454/amid-tensions-over-covid-19-origins-china-and-world-need-cooperate?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Sep 2021 19:30:15 +0000 The announcement on July 12 that Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, had signed advance purchase agreements with Sinopharm and Sinovac was a significant marker of progress for China’s vaccine industry. Prior to that, each Chinese company also made the World Health Organization’s list of Covid-19 vaccines approved for emergency use. Under the agreements with Gavi, Sinopharm and Sinovac will begin to make 110 million doses immediately available to participants in the Covax Facility. If necessary,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141063/china-should-treat-vaccine-data-transparency-matter-science-rather?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3141063/china-should-treat-vaccine-data-transparency-matter-science-rather?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Jul 2021 17:00:17 +0000 May 7, 2021 will be seen as a milestone for China’s vaccine industry in the history of public health. That was the date the World Health Organization added a vaccine made by China’s Sinopharm to its emergency use listing for the Covid-19 pandemic. The development is historic given that the Sinopharm product is the first solely from a developing country to be included in a globally recommended treatment mechanism for dealing with an ongoing infectious disease. The five products already on the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3133045/whos-sinopharm-approval-opens-door-distributing-chinese-vaccines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3133045/whos-sinopharm-approval-opens-door-distributing-chinese-vaccines?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 May 2021 19:30:07 +0000 What should China do about Myanmar amid media reports of Myanmese resistance to the dramatic February 1 coup? In theory, Myanmar being a neighbour means its domestic developments are more consequential to China than many other major countries’ and hence deserves much attention. In reality, Myanmar barely features in Chinese discussions about its environment and the relationships it should nurture. Part of this lack of attention can be attributed to China’s foreign ministry, which innovatively... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3128399/myanmar-coup-chinas-careful-response-delicate-balancing-act?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3128399/myanmar-coup-chinas-careful-response-delicate-balancing-act?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Apr 2021 17:00:18 +0000 China’s activism in sharing its Covid-19 vaccines with developing countries is increasingly attracting media attention. The United States is set to be another major vaccine supplier after it secures enough doses for domestic use, a goal it aims to reach by May. Even before Chinese vaccine donations and sales began, US commentators foresaw the production and distribution of vaccines as an “unavoidably competitive endeavour” on a par with the space race during the height of the Cold War. As... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3124109/real-us-china-coronavirus-vaccine-race-against-time-not-each-other?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3124109/real-us-china-coronavirus-vaccine-race-against-time-not-each-other?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Mar 2021 17:00:20 +0000 Now that President Joe Biden has restored American membership in the World Health Organization, can the United States and China find renewed impetus for cooperation on global health? Certainly, Beijing and Washington should work together to improve their respective public health situations. Making it easier for institutions such as the WHO to address the world’s health challenges is another worthy goal. The state of US-China relations, however, may make such goals too lofty if some underlying... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3118988/how-us-and-china-can-renew-spirit-cooperation-improve-world-health?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3118988/how-us-and-china-can-renew-spirit-cooperation-improve-world-health?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Jan 2021 19:30:13 +0000 Tensions over technology between China and the United States have existed right from the beginning of their relationship – for both countries, technology has always loomed large, embodying achievement and hope on the one hand, and loss and fear on the other. The US-Soviet collaboration in the depths of a raging Cold War that led to vaccines against smallpox and polio worldwide puts to shame the lack of US-China collaboration in the Covid-19 pandemic. What can be done to handle the US-China... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3104560/us-and-china-can-turn-page-age-old-tech-rivalry-covid-19-vaccine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3104560/us-and-china-can-turn-page-age-old-tech-rivalry-covid-19-vaccine?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Oct 2020 17:30:14 +0000 Amid ruptures to the conventions of international cooperation, attenuated by the Covid-19 pandemic, South-South cooperation has the opportunity to prove that its hallmark characteristics of solidarity, self-reliance, equity, trust and reciprocity can prevail against the tectonic shifts under way in geopolitics. Effective cooperation in public health is based on the principle of mutual protection. Countries in the global South, China included, have thus prioritised humanity-based health and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3102477/coronavirus-pandemic-opportunity-renewal-south-south-cooperation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3102477/coronavirus-pandemic-opportunity-renewal-south-south-cooperation?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Sep 2020 19:30:06 +0000 The suggestion from economics professor Li Daokui that China curb exports of medicines as a means of countering US economic curbs on Chinese access to semiconductor products is plainly wrong, dangerous and deserves to be denounced. It is wrong for several reasons. First, with or without a pandemic, for an individual of any country, unaffected access to medicines is both a right and a necessity. Safe and effective medicines are not just another category of ordinary products. They are produced and... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3099230/weaponising-chinas-export-medicines-wrong-immoral-and-should?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3099230/weaponising-chinas-export-medicines-wrong-immoral-and-should?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Aug 2020 11:00:12 +0000 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is important to China. This is a statement of fact, not out of courtesy or preference. Back in 2016, the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Asean-China dialogue relations was so low key that it barely featured in either side’s media. In 2018, upon the 15th anniversary of the Asean-China strategic partnership, their joint announcement of a 2030 partnership vision showed how keen diplomatic establishments on both sides were to inject new... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2180380/china-asean-far-more-important-mere-talking-shop?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2180380/china-asean-far-more-important-mere-talking-shop?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Jan 2019 23:00:15 +0000 In the final week of 2017, US President Donald Trump made crystal clear what his approach to China would be in the new year. First, he tweeted that China was caught “red handed” allowing ships to sell oil to North Korea in the Yellow Sea – in violation of Beijing’s own approval of UN resolution banning such activities. Then, in a television interview, he said he would honour his campaign promise to punish China on trade, indicating that he believed a quid pro quo was in place over North Korea... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2127070/china-blame-north-korea-crisis-answer-depends-who-you-ask?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2127070/china-blame-north-korea-crisis-answer-depends-who-you-ask?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jan 2018 02:00:00 +0000 As diplomats and negotiators quicken their pace to put together the ­annual gathering of heads of state under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation framework, one question is inevitable: can the meeting this year deliver progress on rules for region-wide trade and investment? It really does not take too much of a sceptic to dismiss such questions out of hand. After all, unlike previous years, the largest economy in the group, the United States, has stopped being involved in the Trans-Pacific... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2105460/apec-miracle-how-us-and-china-can-look-beyond-tpp-and-rcep?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2105460/apec-miracle-how-us-and-china-can-look-beyond-tpp-and-rcep?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Aug 2017 09:30:39 +0000 Donald Trump’s response to the news on Tuesday that North Korea had successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile had an all too familiar feel. Confronted with a watershed moment in the rogue state’s efforts to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the mainland United States, the American president’s confused reaction was to take to social media to demand China “end this nonsense once and for all”. The delivery system Trump used to launch his first salvo in the latest... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2101740/us-ignorant-limits-chinese-influence-over-north-korea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2101740/us-ignorant-limits-chinese-influence-over-north-korea?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Jul 2017 06:03:37 +0000 Is the relationship between the US and China destined to start off on a negative footing under president Donald Trump? Less than a week before Trump’s inauguration, such a question seems redundant. The pattern of the rhetoric from Trump and his foreign policy team can be likened to a team of enraged bulls charging into a china shop – pun intended. US should not allow Taiwan issue to hurt its all-important relationship with China Viewed from Beijing, where I am based, it is important to bear in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2062530/china-should-welcome-strong-and-prosperous-america-words?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2062530/china-should-welcome-strong-and-prosperous-america-words?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jan 2017 08:24:09 +0000 On July 12, the arbitral award in a case brought by the Philippines against China over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea was made public. In a procedural sense, it marked the end of the case. But its political and practical implications are just beginning and are far from certain. In hindsight, China had the option to simply keep quiet about the case, as most other states in similar situations have done. But it did not. Through various spokesmen, the Chinese government repeatedly said... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2022574/what-next-china-and-philippines-south-china-sea-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2022574/what-next-china-and-philippines-south-china-sea-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Sep 2016 06:30:45 +0000 Since the first China-Asean official dialogue in July 1991, when then foreign minister Qian Qichen attended the 24th Asean Post-Ministerial Conference as a consultative partner, the relationship between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has grown into a multilayered web of ties. Those ties cover the entire spectrum of security, political, economic and social affairs. Growth of mutually agreeable ties culminated in the announcement of a strategic partnership for peace and... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1871440/calmer-waters-security-south-china-sea-greater-china-asean?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1871440/calmer-waters-security-south-china-sea-greater-china-asean?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Oct 2015 03:00:00 +0000 Talk of the US being on the decline is back in vogue. This time, China features more prominently - if not solely - in the follow-up question: which country is going to benefit? My answer is different: it's certainly not China who will benefit. Arguably, the first round of sentiment claiming that the United States was in decline emerged in the wake of the Arab oil embargo on America and its allies in 1973. A little more than a decade later, Japan's rise to be No 1 in economic affairs helped bring... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1535623/china-must-see-past-its-own-hype-america-decline?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1535623/china-must-see-past-its-own-hype-america-decline?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Jun 2014 09:45:45 +0000 China's relations with the Philippines are clearly asymmetrical and events since President Benigno Aquino's trip to Beijing in 2011 do not bode well for peaceful bilateral and regional development - a fundamental task of both governments. Efforts are needed on both sides to avoid a downward spiral. Differences exist on several levels (besides the usual measures of power, including size of gross domestic product and military might). First there are the ways of thinking. In China, there is a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1218513/beijing-and-manila-should-navigate-around-their-differences?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1218513/beijing-and-manila-should-navigate-around-their-differences?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000