Recent Articles

In China, the world's largest contract electronics maker, Taiwan's Foxconn, has long been synonymous with worker exploitation and the heartlessness of low-wage manufacturing. In the Czech Republic, the company presents another face – which may reveal just how much national contexts make a difference. 

One of the most persistent myths about China is that its system works with great efficiency, enabling concerted action and long-term planning. But such rosy assessments overlook key costs – not least to the rights and protection of citizens.

As popular western social media platforms remain inaccessible in mainland China, Chinese social media platforms have become an important way for universities in the UK to reach out to their largest source of foreign students. 

Even as a consensus has emerged that coal must be phased out, Chinese investment is empowering the growth of coal power across the globe. At the crossroads of this debate in Europe is a series of new coal power projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Polluting coal facilities in southwestern Romania have adversely affected the well-being of the local population and the environment. But rather than phase them out, the EU member state is planning to build a new coal-fired plant, drawing on Chinese investment – even as the EU moves toward a zero-coal future. 

Even as China has pledged reduction of carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement, it has actively pursued coal projects in the Balkans in recent years that seem to go against those commitments. 

China’s potentially growing economic influence in the Arctic region has raised concerns amongst Arctic states and stakeholders. What kind of security risks for the Arctic states and peoples could accompany China’s regional engagement?

China is now at the top of the tables when it comes to investment in research and development. But problems like bureaucracy and short-term thinking continue to hold innovation back.

Germans may celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall as a turning point for the country, and an end to repression and division. But in China's state media today, the wall is a symbol of US-China trade divisions.