Asia & the Pacific

The idea of a Swiss sovereign wealth fund (SWF) which could use a part of the country’s massive reserves for investments arose after Switzerland had established in 2011 its currency link to the Euro. Since then various sovereign wealth options have been discussed, from a SWF with a savings mandate to a fund with a strategic investment mandate, a private equity-type fund that invests in technology start-ups and protects against hostile foreign takeovers of strategic companies.

If a symbolic denouncement is indeed the goal, Magnitsky sanctions are likely the right tool, as they would send a powerful message of solidarity with protesters to both the Hong Kong and mainland authorities. 

In August 1936, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a speech that openly denounced war in a way that is almost entirely absent from political discourse today. America's contemporary disinterest in peace isn't just morally dubious; it's strategically myopic, writes Stephen Walt.

The trade war between the United States and China is heating up again, with U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announcing plans to impose a 10-per-cent tariff on the US$300-billion worth of imports from China that he had so far left untouched. The Chinese authorities then allowed their currency, the renminbi, to fall below the symbolic threshold of seven yuan for every U.S. dollar. The Trump administration promptly responded by naming China a “currency manipulator” – the first time the U.S. had done that to any country in 25 years. Pundits declared a currency war, and investors immediately sent global stock markets lower.

The US-China trade war heated up in the first week of August.  On August 1, Donald Trump abruptly announced plans to impose a 10 % tariff on the remaining $300 billion of imports from China that he had not already hit with earlier tariffs.   The Chinese authorities then allowed their currency, the renminbi (RMB), to fall in value below the highly visible line of 7.0 RMB/$.  The US Administration promptly reacted on August 5 by naming China a “currency manipulator” — the first time any country had been given that designation in 25 years.   Pundits declared a currency war, while investors responded by immediately sending stock markets down.

The Aspen conversation wasn’t a call to arms against China, but rather a call to prudent national security policy. 

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements conducted a research workshop on July 18–19, 2019 titled “Subnational Climate Change Policy in China.” Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy — directed by Professor Zhang Xiliang — hosted and co-sponsored the workshop. The Harvard Global Institute provided major support for the project.

We are accustomed to thinking about globalized economic networks—such as the supply chain networks between Japan and South Korea—as a source of economic efficiencies. Increasingly, however, they are being used for coercive purposes, as states take advantage of choke points to coerce other states or businesses.

National security and economic policy used to be separate spheres. They are now merging, turning the global networked economy into a space of strategic actions, counter-actions, threats, targeting, counter-targeting and decoupling.

A well-resourced USDFC as a result of the BUILD Act will support U.S. companies and provide competitive alternatives for the Global South. Prioritizing U.S. support in the telecommunications sector will also help balance China’s growing strategic influence in cyberspace. However, reports suggest that the USDFC’s financial resources will be much less than originally planned. These resources are needed to level the playing field. This paper outlines why.