Deep Dive - China, China, China

As US power wanes, China is making progress we should take lessons from...

Following our Weekly Drop on China and soft power, we taking a look at the three headline Chinese moves on the international stage. First, there's the escalating trade war and how China appears to be positioning itself. Then there's China’s growing ability to establish direct extra-territorial influence. Last, there's China’s thorium power breakthrough and its implications.

China is – more than anyone else at this point – winning in the aggregate.

The trade war

The past month has revealed much about where the United States and China think the other’s stopping point is. So far, we have another 90 day pause, while both sides wind back tariffs. But it is a pause only; the uncertainty for both business and national governments remains. That in will continue generating timidity in investment and a restructuring of global commerce, continuing to weaken the US economy and position. In short, a pause helps China more than the United States, not least because Trump vacillates: it is in China's interest to string Trump along in the hope of a 'deal'.