Le Pen Closer Than Ever to the French Presidency (and to Putin)
As elections approach Sunday, the far-right candidate is linked to the Russian president by a web of financial ties and a history of support that has hardly dimmed despite the war in Ukraine.
China sees at least one winner emerging from Ukraine war: China
Officials in Beijing believe it can take advantage of a distracted US and weakened Russia. The war in Ukraine is far from over, but a consensus is forming in Chinese policy circles that one country stands to emerge victorious from the turmoil: China.
France: the leading European power in the Indo-Pacific
In May 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech at the Garden Island Naval Base in Sydney, Australia, where he outlined a French strategy for the Indo-Pacific. With this speech, France formally positioned itself as an ‘Indo-Pacific power’ and became the first European country to adopt the concept as a regional framework. France’s approach to the region reflects unique sensitivities. It has also been the driving force for broader European engagement with the Indo-Pacific.
France and Germany back Ukraine’s call for Russian troop pullback
Zelensky’appeal for help in Paris follows Biden’s condemnation of Russian ‘aggression’.
Chinese Diplomacy: from “Fighting Spirit” to “Warrior Wolf”
The COVID-19 pandemic has led China to develop aggressive communication, with diplomatic missions using social media extensively to spread a positive image of Chinese achievements and to criticize Western countries.
The Economic Pillar of Korea’s New Southern Policy: Building on Existing Assets
Diversification is a key tenet of South Korea’s New Southern Policy (NSP). In the economic sphere, however, the need for diversification is apparently less pressing as, unlike what is observed in the diplomatic and security domains, Korea’s economic partnerships are less unbalanced and are not (or not as clearly) polarized on the big Four (China, Japan, the United States, and Russia).
Japan’s Cybersecurity Strategy: From the Olympics to the Indo-Pacific
In September 2020, the Ifri Center for Asian Studies held an online event on Japan’s cybersecurity strategy.
A New Player in the Indo-Pacific? South Korea’s New Southern Policy
A webinar by the Center for Asian Studies on South Korea's New Southern Policy examined the motivations, objectives, and means of, as well as possible challenges to, this policy, through an analysis of economic and trade cooperation on the one hand (Prosperity) and diplomatic and security cooperation on the other (People and Peace).
France’s incoherent China policy confuses partners
On 21 July 2020, French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire participated remotely in the High Level Economic and Financial Dialogue with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua.
Towards Tougher Bilateral Relations Between EU and China
When politics catches up to the economy. In the wake of the EU-China summit, what can we expect from the bilateral relations? 2020 was supposed to be the year of EU-China relations. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has quickly disrupted the positive expectations.
A Year after the Start of the Saudi-Emirati Blockade against Qatar. What Are the Consequences for West Africa?
On June 5th 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain broke off diplomatic relations with Qatar and agreed to isolate the Emirate via an air and land blockade.
Scientific Cooperation in the South China Sea: A vector for China's security diplomacy in Southeast Asia?
In the South China Sea, the field of marine science could be seen as a catalyst for functional cooperation in the region. In reality, it often reflects regional asymmetries and has become yet another domain in which the weight of China is ultimately a destabilizing factor, according to Sophie Boisseau du Rocher.
Japan's Challenges in Public Diplomacy, An American Vision
Japan’s public diplomacy (PD) profile rests almost exclusively on the promotion of its cultural soft power. Today, in the complex geopolitical setting of Asia, in which national rivalries are reviving competing wartime history narratives and territorial disputes, this approach is no longer sufficient to advance Japan’s own national interests and gain favorable opinion abroad. Under the Prime Minister Abe, Japan has begun to transform and upgrade its public diplomacy. However, the country is still facing a number of challenges.
China's Two-Track Foreign Policy: From Ambiguous to Clear-Cut Positions
This analysis examines the current ambiguities, priorities and approaches of Chinese foreign policy from a practitioner’s perspective, taking into account experiences of Beijing-based diplomats (interviews conducted in 2011 and 2012), in addition to recent Chinese foreign policy positions and official communications.
It leads to the following conclusions:
The Religious Diplomacy of the Russian Federation
The Russian Federation is shaping its religious diplomacy (i.e., in brief, the use of the religious factor in foreign policy) and exercises it with a growing efficiency. This is, to a certain degree, a consequence of processes taking place in Russia, namely, first and foremost, the solving of the crisis of identity and values, and, closely connected with this, the renaissance of religion in Russian political and social life.
Defence and Foreign Policy Under President-elect François Hollande
We know little about François Hollande's stance on wider foreign and defence policy issues. Though we are unlikely to see major changes from his predecessor, some clues from his successful campaign suggest that President-elect Hollande will adopt a more European and Gaullist approach.
South Africa and the Arab Spring: opportunities to match diplomacy goals and strategies
This paper highlights how the Arab Spring magnified a two-dimensional gap in South Africa’s foreign policy. First that South Africa does not have a vision which reconciles demands for achieving the goals of protecting human rights, sovereignty, and multilateralism; second, that its strategies do not meet set goals. The paper then provides tentative explanations to this gap. It ends by elaborating what in the “African Awakening” and in the midst of the Arab Spring are opportunities for South Africa to overcome this gap.
Russian Gas Diplomacy
Thank goodness our early warning systems during the cold war were not structured so we could see the flash at the same time we heard the warning. On Monday, the Russians notified the Europeans under an “Early Warning” agreement negotiated after the last Ukrainian gas cutoff that they had already cut gas flows to Belarus by 15% and that would increase cuts to 85% by the end of the week. Not very good news for the Belarusians who enjoy the most gasified economy in the world - everything there runs on gas.
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