Day: August 15, 2022

Your Tuesday Briefing: Kenya’s Next President?

Chin@Strategy

Good morning. We’re covering uncertain election results in Kenya and a possible prisoner swap between Russia and the U.S. A new Kenyan president? Kenya’s vice president, William Ruto, won the country’s presidential election, the head of the electoral commission said yesterday. The result came days after a cliffhanger vote. Ruto gained 50.5 percent of the vote, narrowly defeating Raila Odinga, a former prime minister, said a top official. That percentage is enough to avert a runoff vote, but a majority of election commissioners refused to verify the results. Here are…

Following China’s Military Drills, Taiwan Settles Into New Normal

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement In Taiwan, reactions to the Chinese live-fire drills held around Taiwan in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s much-publicized visit earlier this month were primarily muted. Although the live-fire drills were a front-page headline, much domestic news discourse seemed focused more on a plagiarism scandal affecting the Democratic Progressive Party’s Taoyuan mayoral candidate, former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien, than the live-fire drills. This was similar to reactions to the Pelosi visit itself. Whether the visit would take place or not was discussed internationally for weeks on end, with…

Oil prices hit lowest level since Ukraine invasion on China growth fears

Chin@Strategy

Global oil prices have dropped amid concerns over weaker growth in the Chinese economy caused by repeated Covid lockdowns and a downturn in the property sector. A barrel of Brent crude fell by about 5% to below $94 (£78) on Monday, hitting the joint lowest levels since the Russian invasion of Ukraine as traders reacted to weaker figures from the world’s second-largest economy. China’s central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates on its key lending facilities for the second time this year after disappointing official growth figures. Factory output in the…

Oil Prices Fall After Signs of Chinese Economic Slowdown

Chin@Strategy

Oil prices fell to their lowest level in months on Monday, after signs emerged that China’s economy is faltering. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, dipped below $90 per barrel in afternoon trading, down more than 3 percent, its lowest level since February. The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell by a similar amount, to below $95 a barrel, the lowest since March. China’s economy, which has shown signs of a slowdown for months, sputtered even more in July according to data from…

Do Legislative Visits Actually Help Taiwan?

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement International tourism was probably the worst hit industry by the COVID-19 pandemic. But one type of tourism has unexpectedly flourished over the past two years: political visits to and from Taiwan. Politicians from all over the “free world” – ranging from those important positions to those retired after political defeats and little-known politicians without much influence – have concluded that Taiwan needs to be supported against the “communist” menace across the Taiwan Strait and the best way they can do this is through… a visit. Taiwanese politicians, not really…

China Pushes Its Vision for Taiwan As U.S. Delegation Visits

Chin@Strategy

BEIJING — As tensions in the Taiwan Strait reached their highest level in decades, China held the world rapt with a show of military might, deploying its largest-ever military exercises to intimidate Taiwan and its supporters. But the message that China has sought to convey involves far more than warships and fighter jets. Alongside its flashy display of raw power, China has been laying out its most forceful vision — political, economic, cultural — of a future unified with Taiwan. Under that vision, guided by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, not…

India and Pakistan at 75: partition remains an open wound as new friction points arise

Chin@Strategy

The attack on Salman Rushdie shone a light on where Pakistan and India, both now 75 years old, share common ground. Amid worldwide outrage, both governments were conspicuous by their silence. The silence came from different roots. Some of the first riots after the publication of Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses were in Pakistan and violent extremism is still very much part of the country’s political life. In India’s case, it was because Rushdie has been a critic of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and annoyed his supporters, who the author…