Archive
China’s Technological Self-Reliance Ambitions: Updates from the Fifth Plenum
[Article by Josh Bramble.] Beijing has long focused on self-reliance in technological innovation as a goal to mitigate dependence on foreign firms. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee’s Fifth
The Uncertain Future of the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement
In June 2020, the EU and the Mercosur trade bloc, which consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, concluded negotiations over the Political Dialogue and Cooperation part of their Association Agreement, after the free trade section was completed in June 2019. With a number of EU member states and civil society organisations voicing concerns about the environmental impact of the deal, its ratification is becoming more unlikely in the short-term.
China’s pivot towards domestic-driven growth: not as easy as Xi hopes
China desperately wants to and must recover from its long-lasting dependence on exports as a means of economic growth. This is the objective of the dual-circulation strategy, which is set to become Beijing’s escape plan from the feared middle-income trap. However, with domestic consumption still weak, China is unable to survive without a good injection of public investment to boost its economic engine. The rush of rapid supply-side growth is hard to give up for a country used to abnormally high levels of GDP growth.
The Curse of the White Elephant: The Pitfalls of Zambia’s Dependence on China
Zambia appears to be the first African state that has defaulted on its international debt payments as a consequence of Coronavirus. The Zambian government potentially owes the Chinese government in excess of $23 billion in loans, project money and infrastructure. This article explores some of the problems concerning the Sino-Zambian relationship.
When pandemics fuel aborted revolutions: Serbia’s hot summer and what comes next
The failure of a surge of popular protests in Serbia to halt President Aleksandr Vucic’s apparently irresistible steer towards a demokratura could mark a milestone in the country’s path in the shadow of a global pandemic.
