Arm yourself as the world’s two largest economies square off head to head. From politics to militarization - and everything in between - our premium Coffee vs. Tea weekly newsletter will keep you up to date on the most recent happenings in US-China relations.
Coffee vs. Tea was TCG's premier newsletter. Every issue is now available in the archive below.
The US has been far more successful than China in its vaccine diplomacy efforts in Taiwan. Yet, more telling has been Taiwan’s decision to reject Chinese vaccines in spite of growing domestic cases. Still, the ability...
In the desert heat in Eastern Xinjiang, China is digging what appears to be a second field for the construction of over 100 new nuclear missile silos. The nuclear build-up coincides with Beijing’s shifting security...
The COVID-19 pandemic and the global race to vaccinate have become an unlikely arena in which to kickstart a ‘new Cold War’ between the US and China. However, unlike the historical Cold War where the consequence was the...
The veto is one of the key powers granted to the permanent members of the UN Security Council, yet it has become a tool to advance individual foreign policy objectives. This is no more evident than with China, who has...
US allies often adopt hedging strategies towards China to navigate their conflicting economic and security interests. However, an increasingly aggressive Chinese foreign policy has caused a number of Beijing’s...
While China has won goodwill from its PPE donations throughout the pandemic and its quickly growing vaccine distributions, recent US efforts are working well to score back favor. At the end of the day, there is hardly a...
On February 1, the Burmese military overthrew the government of Myanmar. China and the US have had different responses based on divergent interests: China is a close economic ally of the BRI member and is interested in...
The US-China relationship will continue to see unbalanced progression between mutual trade interests and political misalignment. Both nations will hold steadfast to their geopolitical ambitions, leaving little...
Although "strategic competition" has become the key principle of the US’ approach to China, Washington still lacks a comprehensive strategy to effectively counter China’s advance. The Strategic Competition Act and the...
It is clear that there is a dire need for more interaction and communication between journalists and scholars in order to provide readers with a more informed and accurate picture of the situation between China and...
Myanmar’s military takeover and the subsequent protests and violence have resulted in more than just domestic turmoil. The country’s turn from its democratic reforms of the past decade has called into question what the...
Though it is a mistake to liken the Quad, which has been little more than a few isolated dialogues between the US, India, Japan, and Australia, to NATO, a fully fleshed out multilateral institution funded by its member...
Washington has increasingly hoped to count on its alliance with Japan to counter Beijing’s ambitions in Asia, especially with regard to the South China Sea and Taiwan. Yet, Japan remains tentative to take a stance...
China recognizes that it must evolve its developmental pattern and market vitality to the next stage; therefore, the 14th five-year plan is devoted to making breakthroughs in innovation capabilities, building more open...
Katherine Tai has advocated for cooperation over competition when it comes to the US-China trade relationship. She has stressed the importance of strengthening relationships with US allies and that China needs to follow...
The slow return to global economic normalcy will give Beijing the maneuverability to focus on strengthening its domestic consumption within the context of the dual circulation policy and reduce foreign economic reliance...
Chinese standards contributions have been increasing in recent years, and the quality of those proposals has been increasing as well. To maintain US dominance, Washington will need to rely on its tech titans and consider...
While Beijing’s directness may open doors for unmasked dialogue and progress in the bilateral relationship, it has also led to obstinance on issues ranging from human rights to territorial claims, which has in turn led...
For the last forty years, the One-China Policy, the Six Assurances, and the Taiwan Relations Act have erected the pillars of the US’ Taiwan policy. Together, they mean the US will provide arms sales to Taiwan to ensure...
Although the World Health Organization-led COVAX initiative aimed to see equitable distribution of vaccines among participating countries, the reality is that richer countries have been pushed to the front of the line....
Over the past four years, the US withdrew significantly from its traditional leadership role at the United Nations. The former administration's overall disdain for the multilateral system, which translated to numerous...
As the WHO has yet to release its formal investigative report, it remains to be seen how a US independent review of the findings will influence US-China relations. Given the current state of the bilateral relationship, a...
On the day before Joe Biden’s inauguration, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared ongoing “genocide” in the home of the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority in China’s far western Xinjiang region. Pompeo set...
From its familiarly hawkish contents to its title, The Longer Telegram offers little in the way of originality. However, it does provide a comprehensive US approach to Xi’s China, and does a thorough job of examining the...
With the arrival of a new presidential administration, many pundits have been predicting a return to traditional American values in US diplomacy. However, the reality is that there will be little room for change in US...
While within the US-China relationship there is a heavy focus on competition, there are also potential areas of mutually beneficial cooperation. Addressing climate change is perhaps the most pressing of these areas, as...
The politics surrounding manufacturing continue to strain relations between the two countries, demonstrated through events from the US-China trade war to the COVID-19 pandemic; highlighting the inequities in...
The bilateral relationship has been full of ups and downs, at times experiencing highs of friendship and growth while at others dragged down by disappointment and mistrust. Why has it been so difficult for the US and...
After nurturing Tsinghua Unigroup into a major player in the global chip industry, the government appears ready to cut the company, and others like it, loose in an effort to let market forces rather than political...
China's successful return mission from the moon has fueled discussions about the role of space in US-China relations. While many see potential for great collaboration between the two countries in the next great frontier,...
This month, China’s first comprehensive export control regime, the Export Control Law (ECL) came into force. Despite the geopolitical context, the ECL will likely have a limited impact on foreign companies compared to...
A relatively new, and increasingly important, area of competition between the US and China is their respective engagement with African states. While the US has a long history of involvement with the African continent,...
The Trump Administration views the Made in China 2025 plan as a key piece in China’s long-term plan to replace the US on the global stage, representing a distinct threat to American national security. In response, the...
As the race for global technology leadership becomes increasingly heated, it remains to be seen which international players will emerge as the primary drivers of the industry’s future. While the US has historically a key...
Brussels has left little to the imagination for their expectations of heightened transatlantic cooperation under a Biden administration. For his part, Biden has promised to, unlike his predecessor, produce a coherent...
As China prepares to celebrate the 100th year of the Chinese Communist Party in 2021, it will be able to celebrate the achievement of becoming a "moderately prosperous society" by eradicating extreme poverty nationwide....
While the Trump administration has embarked on a collision course with China over the One-China Policy, the incoming Biden administration will be tasked with either maintaining the political shift of the current...
It is commonly accepted that the United Nations has not always proven to be the most efficient body through which to pass regulation or reform. However, rarely is a single country able to implement policies on an...
While Taiwan has long been a contentious subject interwoven in international politics, the Trump administration seems to have opened the door to toeing Beijing’s “red-line” when it comes to relations with the Island....
America’s emerging strategy for countering China’s influence received its trial by fire last week. While certain aspects emerged unscathed, others withered on touch. The principal concerns for the countries that...
President Xi has made clear his intention to protect China’s environment from further degradation and make China an “ecological civilization” by 2049. His surprise pledge in September to achieve carbon neutrality, or...
According to a two-year review conducted by the House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI), the US Intelligence Community (IC) has not sufficiently adapted to changing technological and geopolitical environments shaped by a...
As China's technological influence continues to grow in the United States, it stresses the lengths that both the US and China are willing to go in order to protect national sovereignty and data security from prying...
The 2020 presidential debates have undoubtedly departed from presidential norms. Through an emphatic display of mutual disrespect, the most recent debates involving President Trump and former Vice President Biden have...
For the past 20 years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has released an annual report to Congress on military and security developments in the People’s Republic of China. By assessing the PRC’s national strategy and...
Although recent actions, including US export controls on Huawei and other Chinese technology companies, have impacted Japan’s economy and the political calculus for future relations, Yoshihide Suga’s government will...
The EU seems to be stuck between a rock and a hard-place as its alliance with the US and its trade relationship with China is increasingly at odds. As a close ally commonly aligned with the US on global political and...
The United States’ Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, announced his resignation on September 14 to officially end his three-year post in the position. Given the timing of his resignation, right before the upcoming 2020...
The next five-year plan is unlikely to reverse the trends that have gradually coalesced over the past several years as a response to geopolitical competition with the US. As Beijing doubles down on its current...
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel headlined a virtual summit meeting with President Xi Jinping last month to expedite the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) between the European Union and China. The September...
National security has and continues to remain a core topic when discussing the deteriorating relations between the United States and China. In 2019, these concerns first manifested themselves through a US ban on Chinese...
President Trump announced his decision to ban TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, in the United States through an executive order on August 6, citing national security concerns. If the executive order comes to fruition,...
Under the Trump administration, the US, once the foremost champion of a single, global internet, has embraced the internet’s inevitable bifurcation into two parts, one led by the US and the other by China. In order to...
Similar to that of the US-China relationship, the China-India relationship has been characterized by escalating conflict throughout 2020. The source of the friction: the two nations’ eagerness to expand infrastructure...
Furious lobbying by the semiconductor industry, which earns over a quarter of its revenue in China, softened the impact of last year’s ban on chip sales to Huawei by easing select restrictions on chips sales. However, as...
Taiwan has done an exemplary job in dealing with the coronavirus. Despite having a population of nearly 24 million people, Taiwan has yet to reach 500 cases, fewer than some US states with a fraction of Taiwan’s...
Maintaining a strong military presence coupled with improved statecraft can allow Washington to influence other nations and their conflicts, which ultimately may increase American stature in a region where head-to-head...
With the presidential election right around the corner, the two US presidential candidates’ stances on foreign policy, namely Sino-US relations, have become a topic of heated discussion. As the bilateral relationship...
With more than 1,300 American firms that include over 300 regional headquarters, Hong Kong has long been the de facto launching point for foreign businesses that seek riches within the vast Chinese market, but also value...
From pandemic accusations to market fluctuation, 2020 has been anything but a placid year for the relations between two of the world's top superpowers. Here's a look at some key moments that have defined the year so far,...
Huawei’s global rise as a leader in 5G technology creates an opportunity for Washington to bring China back to the foreign policy table. Instead of instituting economic sanctions that indirectly hamper US innovation...
From pandemic accusations to market fluctuation, 2020 has been anything but a placid year for the relations between two of the world's top superpowers. Here's a look at some key moments that have defined the year so far,...
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