Ian Bremmer’s article in the March 2010 issue of Prospect is well worth reading.  The world’s two great powers are growing dangerously hostile to one another. Could this be worse than the cold war? Previous posts have raised the increasing conflict between China and the US.  President Hu Jintao’s attendance at the nuclear disarmament conference [...]

I have expressed growing concern over the dangers of the deterioration of US-China relations – the Obama visit, Taiwan arms sales, Dalai Lama, Google, cybersecurity and the trade deficit, with the likelihood of China being branded a ‘currency manipulator’ by the US Treasury on 15 April.  The leaders on both sides have realized these dangers [...]

The US Treasury is expected to issue its semi-annual report on 15 April.  Will it declare China a “currency manipulator”?  This would be “for purposes of preventing effective balance of payments adjustments or gaining unfair competitive advantage in international trade.”  This could lead to the imposition of countervailing duties on Chinese imports.  The possibility of [...]

The British House of Commons all-party Foreign Affairs Committee has concluded that the phrase “the special relationship” no longer reflects the current Anglo-American relationship.  The MPs believe the link to be “profound and valuable” but the British government needs to be “less deferential” towards the US and more willing to say no to Washington.   [...]

Yesterday’s post reported on the non-attendance of Premier Wen Jiabao at the small leaders’ meeting on 17 December.  Wen’s explanation of what happened was the same as previously reported in the Chinese media, except that the latter said that the meeting was held by the US.  Wen did not repeat this.  It’s hard to understand [...]

Writing in BusinessWeek on 12 March, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said global economic growth would be about 1.5% higher if China stopped restraining the value of its currency and running trade surpluses.   “We should not be afraid of what the Chinese might do if we pressure them to stop this currency manipulation,” Krugman said. [...]

The decision of Northrop Grumman and EADS not to bid on the tender to supply the US Air Force with $50 billion worth of air refuelling tankers is very disturbing.  They won the contract in 2008 but, after Boeing’s protest, a new tender was issued, with the technical terms sufficiently changed so that the larger [...]

There has been much talk in the past about China and the European Union having more in common in a number of policy areas than either has with the United States.  Thus Beijing saw the EU as a potential factor moderating US influence; Washington could see a world being led by a G2 of the [...]

Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, wrote on 19 February to foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton complaining about the manner in which way Joao Vale de Almeida was recently appointed ambassador in Washington (see post dated 19 February).  Bildt asks how the appointment was made, pending adoption of new rules governing the procedure, but with [...]

I have in previous blog posts, strongly disagreed with criticism of Baroness Ashton.  The nomination of Joao Vale de Almeida to succeed John Bruton as EU ambassador in Washington is, however, worrying.  I believed that Hermann Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton were the right appointments but not necessarily for the right reason.  She was right [...]