Bank Rakyat Indonesia

March 15, 2024 | Elaine K. Dezenski, Josh Birenbaum

Radical transparency is democracy’s secret weapon to counter China 

Authoritarian regimes, like China, fundamentally depend upon opacity for their engagement with the global economy. Opacity provides the perfect cover for bribes, illicit finance, and corruption, while...

February 28, 2024 | Elaine K. Dezenski |

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is bringing new risks to Europe

China’s grand vision of the world-changing BRI may have not been realised, but something else is emerging in its wake — a powerful lever to bend authoritarian-leaning countries toward Chinese interests

January 9, 2024 | Elaine K. Dezenski |

Kleptocrats in democracy’s clothing: Beijing and Moscow talk anti-corruption at the UN

Redefining terms like anti-corruption, human rights, democracy, and integrity — even when self-evidently disingenuous — provides China the cover to mimic the mechanisms of good governance while blunting...

December 21, 2023 | Dalibor Rohac, Ivana Stradner

Viktor Orbán Is No Friend of America

Since his arrival in power in 2010, he has been openly laying the groundwork for the end of the American-led unipolar world.

November 8, 2023 | Josh Birenbaum |

China Is Trying to Change What Human Rights Mean

The party’s loose approach to basic facts permeates other more complex issues with concrete and damaging consequences for how China interacts with the world.

October 17, 2023 | Elaine K. Dezenski |

Cash, corruption, crumbling dams — that’s China’s Belt and Road Initiative, 10 years in

As the celebrations for the BRI’s 10th anniversary kick off, attending countries would do well to ask whether their citizens have anything to gain from 'win-win' cooperation with China, Elaine Dezenski writes.

September 8, 2023 | Elaine K. Dezenski |

Italy is about to say to Beijing, ‘Hit the road, Xi’

Rome's anticipated departure from the Belt and Road Initiative likely marks the end of the project’s grand European aspirations, Elaine Dezenski writes.

August 6, 2023 | Cleo Paskal |

The complicated case of Nauru, which stood up to China

Some of Nauru’s decisions made on principle, for example recognizing Taiwan, likely hurt Nauru’s economy. Nauru doesn’t just recognize Taiwan, it has stood up to China in diplomatic venues in ways some Western diplomats could only dream about.

July 18, 2023 | Elaine K. Dezenski |

How Xi Jinping’s Policies Could Lead China to Economic Implosion

At the most basic economic level, China needs the United States—a fact that Xi clearly either hasn’t yet realized or refuses to admit.

May 18, 2023 | Elaine K. Dezenski |

China Is Bailing Out Its Bad Bets, and Handing the West a Geopolitical Opening

China has created its own subprime infrastructure crisis, and now it is trying to bail itself out. The rescue efforts are focused on loans for China’s much-touted Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, Beijing’s...

April 8, 2023 | Cleo Paskal |

Friends of China have huge influence on Capitol Hill: Grant Newsham

‘When Beijing throws in the allure of money, they make short work of Wall Street and America’s business class—and academia as well.’

December 9, 2022 | Elaine K. Dezenski, Emanuele Ottolenghi

From fentanyl to overfishing, China’s corruption demands legislative action

Leading global anti-corruption activists and policymakers are meeting in Washington this week to explore new ways to address global corruption challenges. Their timing couldn’t be better. Corruption exacerbates...

September 26, 2022 | Elaine K. Dezenski, Ambassador John Simon, Allie Dichiara

American Innovation Can Counter China’s BRI

In contrast to the BRI’s “railroads to nowhere,” the United States can reframe global infrastructure development around the citizens who need it the most.

April 13, 2022 | Zane Zovak |

China’s Embrace of the Taliban Complicates US Afghanistan Strategy

China’s willingness to partner with the Taliban undermines American efforts to influence the extremist group’s behavior through pressure campaigns and sanctions.

June 8, 2021 | Bradley Bowman, Morgan Lorraine Viña

China’s Potemkin Peacekeeping

The CCP is using its increased U.N. peacekeeping presence to shift international norms about human rights.

October 1, 2020 | Thomas Joscelyn |

Two More Reasons to Worry About China

Keep an eye on China’s relationship with Cuba, for starters.

August 21, 2020 | Aykan Erdemir, Philip Kowalski

China Buys Turkey’s Silence on Uyghur Oppression

Turkey has joined the list of majority Muslim countries that have opted for silence in dealing with the one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time.

May 27, 2020 | Clifford D. May |

Communist China’s imperialist dreams

The Belt and Road Initiative is about more than infrastructure

May 6, 2020 | Elaine K. Dezenski |

Contagion of Chinese Corruption Will Threaten Post-Pandemic Recovery In Developing World

Eventually, the COVID-19 pandemic will end. When it does, the economic devastation the pandemic has left behind will become the overriding concern of governments worldwide. Today, China is working to burnish...

December 20, 2019 | Mackubin Owens, Bradley Bowman, Andrew Gabel

Dangerous Waters: Responding to China’s Maritime Provocations in the South China Sea

Americans have learned, sometimes painfully, that what happens in seemingly obscure corners of the world can hurt them at home. Consequently, Americans dismiss Chinese activities in the South China Sea at their own peril.