Philippe Le Corre, an affiliate with the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, analyzes the recent ties between China and Portugal in an article for The Diplomat.

Over the past decade, China has become central to the world economy. Building on its economic successes, it is becoming increasingly central in world politics. China is also now more ambitious, aiming to establish itself as a regional as well as a global power. It is worth pointing out that the country’s economic rise is already challenging traditional geopolitics, despite a clear “divergence of views about how threatening this might be to traditional US dominance and agenda setting,” as Harvard scholar Tony Saich has put it.

While Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were busy gathering for a high-profile summit in Helsinki on Monday, a far less publicized meeting between two other world powers was simultaneously held in Beijing. The twentieth EU-China summit was maybe less attention grabbing but is still significant in its own right. Although the EU-China relationship is becoming more fraught, both sides shared an interest in a summit marked by more positive tone this time around.

Europe’s two greatest military powers, France and the UK, are currently pursuing their own versions of a Pacific pivot.

Europe and the United States target China by tightening screening mechanisms for inbound foreign investment

Over the past year, Berlin has toughened its stance on China as German business and political elites’ concerns about Chinese economic practices, including in Germany itself, have intensified. But during Angela Merkel’s trip to Beijing this week – her eleventh as chancellor – she struck a more conciliatory tone.

For most of the past 25 years, Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy, has managed under President Nursultan Nazarbayev to delicately balance its relationships with various major powers. Now with Beijing's economic influence rising quickly, Astana must find a way to deal with its powerful neighbor's geopolitical ambitions while benefiting from new economic opportunities.

As President Donald Trump prepares to welcome his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, for the first ever state visit of his presidency, Paris and Washington are closer now than they have been since the early days of the Iraq War.

Five years after his debut as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and State President, Xi Jinping surprised the world on February 25. Chinese official media announced that the National People’s Congress would soon receive a proposal to modify the rule, which, in the Constitution, currently prevents anyone to serve more than two consecutive presidential terms. This Monday March 5, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - the two chambers of the Chinese Parliament - will start their annual sessions, will hear policy reports from the outgoing government, formally appoint ministers, and vote on the proposed changes. The latter, if confirmed, could possibly allow Xi Jinping to remain as President beyond 2023 (the General Secretary’s position is bound by no written obligation). In many ways, this proposal is a real gamble for this leader, whose term has been characterized by stronger internal control (the fight against corruption which somewhat also became a witch-hunt) and the promotion of the “rejuvenation of the Chinese dream”. Built on nationalism, the aim of the party leader’s discourse has been (among other things) to flatter the Chinese pride, especially by orchestrating an impressive international expansion program on the economic, cultural, diplomatic and military fronts.

During her recent visit to China, Prime Minister Theresa May emphasized one fact: after leaving the EU, "we - the United Kingdom - will be free to strike our own trade deals". As a first step towards a post-Brexit commercial agreement, the UK and China signed a “joint trade and investment review”, which is quite different from a trade agreement (hardly possible while the UK remains part of the EU). Meanwhile, £9 billion deals were signed.