In recent years, Beijing has been reevaluating its conceptual framework for foreign policy, with a focus on enhancing its role in global governance. With the aim of transforming China into the world's leading country, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has put forward a number of new initiatives — including the Global Security Initiative (GSI) — as a way of creating new formats of cooperation between China and the countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Global South.

Type: Analysis

Economics;  Global Policy

Earlier this year, China brokered talks between Myanmar’s military and an alliance of ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) that handed the army its worst defeat in history. The negotiations’ goal was to restore overland trade — interrupted by fighting — between China’s Yunnan Province and Myanmar. To China’s frustration, the talks collapsed in mid-May, and in late June the alliance reopened its anti-junta offensive.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

China and the Philippines recently struck a secretive deal to deescalate confrontations over the Second Thomas Shoal, “one of the tensest flashpoints in the western Pacific,” says USIP’s Andrew Scobell. “Nobody wants to see it escalate to war,” but the “the ambiguity [of the deal] … allows both sides to claim victory.”

Type: Podcast

The People’s Republic of China has become a significant political and economic force in Latin America and the Caribbean, and engagement with Beijing frequently means more compromise than partnership. This report focuses on Panama and Ecuador, two small but strategically important nations in the region where China has held out the promise of economic benefits in exchange for support for its global ambitions. The report discusses the pragmatic implications of this situation and offers recommendations for Latin American and US policymakers.

Type: Special Report

Economics;  Global Policy