China will consider joining a free trade pact once championed by the United States (US) but abandoned by Donald Trump, President Xi Jinping said last Friday, as Beijing increasingly seeks to influence the global rules of commerce.The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is an updated version of a giant deal originally backed by former US president Barack Obama as an effort to counter China's rising might in Asia. Trump pulled out of it af

President Xi Jinping hailed China as the pivot point for global free trade Thursday, vowing to keep its "super-sized" economy open for business and warning against protectionism as the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic.Buoyed by the signing of the world's largest trade pact over the weekend, Xi said the Asia-Pacific is the "forerunner driving global growth" in a world hit by "multiple challenges."He vowed "openness" to trade and rejected any poss

Once United States (US) President-elect Joe Biden’s administration has made the relatively easy decisions to rejoin the Paris climate agreement, remain in the World Health Organization (WHO), and attempt to reboot the World Trade Organization (WTO), it will confront three key foreign-policy issues.

China will get another chance to reshape Asia-Pacific trade at a regional summit starting Thursday, days after securing a huge trade pact victory and with the United States (US) playing protectionist defence.The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, held online this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, brings together 21 Pacific Rim countries including the world's two biggest economies, accounting for about 60 percent of global GDP.China has become the dominant force in th

In less than four years, outgoing United States (US) President Donald Trump has achieved what, historically, only devastating wars had done: recast the global order. With his isolationism, wannabe authoritarianism, and sheer capriciousness, Trump gleefully took a sledgehammer to the international institutions and multilateral organisations his predecessors had built from the ashes of World War II and maintained ever since.

Indonesia has the largest number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia. As a solution, the populous ASEAN member state has tried to obtain a vaccine as a way to minimise the spread of the coronavirus in its population of over 273.5 million.The recent visit of the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan to China is one of Indonesia's steps to obtain a vaccine from the country.

Fifteen Asia-Pacific nations are set to sign an enormous free trade deal at an online summit that started Thursday, with the pact seen as a coup for China in extending its influence across the region.Once signed, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be the world's largest trade pact in terms of GDP, according to analysts.The pact, which was first proposed in 2012 and viewed as a Chinese-led rival to a now-defunct United States (US) trade initiative, loops in 10 Sou

The United States (US) expressed disappointment Tuesday that Cambodia had demolished a second American-funded military facility without warning, as the kingdom turns to China to expand a naval base.Cambodian authorities this month finished dismantling a maintenance facility at Ream base - built in 2017 with US money after razing a tactical naval headquarters there in September.Cambodia's Defence Minister Tea Banh confirmed the demolition on Tuesday, drawing a rebuke from the US embassy.&

Elections tend to bring differences to the fore. That is certainly true of the United States’ (US) recent presidential election. Among the most bitterly contested elections in the country’s history, the outcome will have profound implications for many aspects of US policy.

Geostrategic tensions, global mistrust and the dark side of the digital world are significant threats that could fracture the world, according to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General during the UN General Assembly in September 2020.