The electric vehicle transition is well underway in China: Last year, roughly one-third of all new cars sold in the country were electric. One EV company predicts the share will pass 50 percent by June 2024. More broadly, around half of China’s total installed electricity generation capacity comes from non-fossil fuel sources, including hydro, solar, … Read more
Children in Saudi Arabia are committed to learning Chinese. The Ministry of Education has instructed all public and private secondary schools to teach Mandarin for at least two lessons per week. Teaching may soon be expanded to encompass universities and primary schools. The language classes have been mandated by Saudi Arabia’s powerful de facto leader, … Read more
Advertisement The Diplomat author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Julian Spencer-Churchill, an associate professor of political science at Concordia University, and Behrouz Ayaz, an Iranian political analyst collaborating with the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, … Read more
Advertisement Symbols sometimes speak louder than facts, even when they shouldn’t. The public diplomacy focused on “development” that followed China’s so-called mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran involved a dizzying series of visits and initiatives labeled in the usual propaganda style. They were loosely connected to China’s various grand schemes for the planet – up … Read more
Advertisement A recent flurry of Chinese diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East seems to be drawing countries closer to Beijing’s orbit while chipping away at the United States regional influence. Some analysts have gone as far as to suggest that a “Pax Sinica” is emerging in the region. But Middle Eastern countries are not necessarily … Read more