Three years on: state of EU-China relations When I posted my first blog exactly three years ago on 11 October 2007, not for one moment did I anticipate 500.  But I confess that I enjoy it – I hope a pleasure I share with you.  Watching the US, in particular during the Obama election, it [...]

• Many fewer Poles than other EU respondents approve of Obama’s handling of international policies. • Given the choice between accepting a nuclear Iran and taking military action, 64% of Americans and 43% of Europeans favour military action. • Fewer than 20% of EU and US citizens believe that China plays a positive role internationally. [...]

The World Commerce Review of September 2010 contained the following article: US-China relations: storm clouds gathering Stanley Crossick President Hu Jintao’s long-planned visit to the United States is not likely to take place soon, as Beijing has postponed the preparatory talks as tensions mount between the two countries. Their relationship has global reach and influences [...]

A worrying and increasingly bitter debate continues in the United States on whether a mosque should be allowed at Ground Zero.  But how widely is it understood  that: • The building is two blocks away from Ground Zero and cannot be seen from there • The building is not a mosque as we know it, but a [...]

Problems relating to the South China Sea have been bubbling below the surface for a long time.  However, the public entry of the United States into the arena has brought these problems to the surface. The South China Sea is now being spoken about in China as a “core interest” of its sovereignty: hitherto the [...]

The 22 Nation Pew Global Attitudes Survey  published on 17 June makes interesting reading. US favourability rating • Overwhelmingly favourable in Western Europe: eg 73% in France and 63% in Germany. • Improved sharply in Russia (57%), up 13% since 2009, in China (58%), up 11% and in Japan (66%), up 7%. • Highly positive in South Korea [...]

The German Marshall Fund of the US and The Centre Asie Ifri, held a joint seminar on 15 June on “Responding to China’s Rise: Balancing Hard and Soft Power”.  The presentation by Gary Schmitt of the American Enterprise Institute was very disturbing.  Although The AEI is ‘neocon’ in philosophy, I fear that much of what [...]

“Kicking ass” is not a phrase Europeans would expect to hear from a President, but it is understandable why President Obama used it.  What is not understandable is why he calls the company ‘British Petroleum” and not “BP”.  Ironically, British Petroleum changed its name to BP after the merger with US oil giant Amoco in [...]

The China-EU Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED), held in Beijing on 24-25 May, brought a pack of high-ranking officials on both sides. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, accompanied by 16 cabinet secretaries or agency heads, led a group of 200 Americans, while State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Vice Premier [...]

These terms are frequently used and often appear interchangeable.  But what do they mean?  Is there any common understandable.  Multipolarity is a system of power distribution in which several countries have very substantial influence.  Our deepest challenge,” US national security advisor Henry Kissinger wrote in 1969, will be “to base order on political multipolarity even [...]