22-Nov-2021
East Asia Forum
Taipei could not afford to wait to request entry once Beijing got in the game. Yet the CPTPP is at the heart of mapping out Taiwan’s long-term survival, not just a means to remain competitive in global markets.
12-Nov-2021
South China Morning Post
President Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged a raft of economic reforms as part of China’s efforts to join a Pacific Rim trade pact abandoned four years ago by the US and warned against efforts to “draw ideological lines” in the Asia-Pacific region.
2-Nov-2021
Daily Maverick
Southern African countries have rattled the European Union by indicating they might reopen negotiations on a major new, long-range framework for relations between Europe and developing countries that has already been accepted by all sides.
20-Oct-2021
New Straits Times
Sudan’s government confiscated Petronas’s assets on the grounds that they were acquired "through illegal means" during Omar al-Bashir’s regime. Some argue that Sudan is turning on its allies "under the pretext of fighting corruption".
22-Sep-2021
Foreign Policy
CPTPP members will have a robust discussion on China’s application. It’s hard to argue that Beijing’s trade regime will be in line anytime soon with CPTPP disciplines on state-owned enterprises, labor, digital trade, and intellectual property protection, among other concerns.
9-Aug-2021
The Interpreter
In a drastically changed geopolitical scenario, developments in the Indo-Pacific, have brought Australia and India closer together as Comprehensive Strategic Partners.
7-Jul-2021
Eurasia Review
US trade experts are watching warily as the world’s biggest free trade pact advances slowly toward ratification and brings some of America’s closest Asian allies into an economic bloc that includes China but leaves the United States on the sidelines.
29-Apr-2021
South China Morning Post
Japan’s parliament approved joining the RCEP to aim for it to come into effect from the start of next year. The approval by Japan’s upper house comes after China called for the deal to be ratified to shore up the economy in the Asia-Pacific.
14-Apr-2021
Benjamin Watch
AfCFTA has materialized at a time when globalization is being used to hide all sorts of ambitions including the second empire and colonialism. AfCFTA is not just about the economy and markets, it is also a political setup from the African Union and African Development Bank.