East Asia

For more than seventy years, East Asia has been the nexus of US presence and engagement in Asia. Today, the region is becoming a hotbed for the return of great power competition, with long-term US allies and partners like Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan next door to competitors and challengers including China, Russia, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. While East Asia continues to navigate a number of longstanding traditional security issues, it must also address the rise of online disinformation, competition to pioneer emerging technologies, and more.

Explore

Trump’s risky trade game

New Atlanticist
Mar 31, 2025

Dispatch from Hong Kong: How the ‘geoeconomic city’ is weathering global headwinds

By
Josh Lipsky, Ananya Kumar

From Chinese and US economic growth to stablecoin regulations, a recent visit to Hong Kong offered important insights for two Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center experts.

China
Digital Currencies

Trump’s risky trade game

New Atlanticist
Mar 25, 2025

Reading between the lines of Taiwan’s new Quadrennial Defense Review

By
Kitsch Liao

The recently released Quadrennial Defense Review offers a window into the Taiwanese military’s issues with prioritization, operational readiness, and manpower retention.

China
East Asia

Trump’s risky trade game

Report
Mar 24, 2025

How Beijing uses inducements as a tool of economic statecraft

By
William Piekos

As strategic competition between the United States and China intensifies, Washington and Beijing seek every possible advantage to gain an edge. In this environment, both countries are increasingly turning to economic statecraft—the use of economic coercion or inducement to pursue strategic goals—to advance their interests.

China
Economy & Business

Programs

The Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Indo-Pacific Security Initiative equips the transatlantic community to “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific and to position the Atlantic Council to serve as the essential link between high-level transatlantic and Asian leaders and thinkers

EXPLORE THE Initiative

Content

Inflection Points

Jun 9, 2019

Trump’s risky trade game

By Frederick Kempe

The effectiveness of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented weaponization of tariffs in addressing non-trade issues is facing its most significant tests yet in Mexico and China.

China Economy & Business

Event Recap

Jun 6, 2019

Shifting Dynamics: Chinese Investment in North America and Europe

By Lauren Molina

On Thursday, June 6, the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center partnered with its Global Business and Economics Program and Baker McKenzie to discuss the recent trends in Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in North America and Europe. The event marked the launch of Baker McKenzie’s latest report, Chinese FDI: A New Reality. Driven […]

China Economy & Business

Event Recap

Jun 6, 2019

Experts debate the future of global warfare

By Africa Center

On Thursday, June 6, the Africa Center hosted a public discussion on the future of warfare, occasioned by the launch of Senior Fellow Dr. Sean McFate’s latest book The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder. Africa Center Director of Programs and Studies and Deputy Director Ms. Bronwyn Bruton welcomed guests […]

Africa China

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2019

Can the United States and China cooperate in the Middle East?

By David A. Wemer

While the United States and China grapple over trade, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, and geopolitical tensions in East Asia, open competition has not yet extended to the Middle East, a region where Washington remains a major player and Beijing has rapidly expanded its influence.

China Middle East

Event Recap

Jun 6, 2019

Event Recap: Can the United States and China Cooperate in the Middle East?

By David A. Wemer

This recap originally appeared in The New Atlanticist. Watch the video. While the United States and China grapple over trade, intellectual property rights, technology transfer, and geopolitical tensions in East Asia, open competition has not yet extended to the Middle East, a region where Washington remains a major player and Beijing has rapidly expanded its influence.

China Middle East

Report

Jun 5, 2019

China’s changing role in the Middle East

By Jonathan Fulton

The report analyzes China’s presence in the Middle East, examines the response of Middle Eastern states, and explores how US-China competition plays out in the region: are their interests compatible, creating opportunities for cooperation, or do they diverge to the point that competition is the most likely outcome?

China Middle East

Insights & Impact

Jun 1, 2019

US-China Trade War: Escalation with No End in Sight

Hung Tran The Atlantic Council’s Global Business & Economics Program’s nonresident senior fellow Hung Tran argues that the ratcheting up of US-China trade tensions in May “could begin to fragment the global economy into US- and China-driven global spheres, with potentially huge implications for sustained growth and prosperity for the world.”

China Economy & Business

Inflection Points

Jun 1, 2019

Special edition: Xi and Putin’s budding bromance

By Frederick Kempe

For now, what binds them together is common cause against US global leadership, their shared interest in political survival, their similarly autocratic systems and the personal closeness that has grown between leaders who have acted to concentrate more power in their own hands.

China Russia

EnergySource

May 30, 2019

Energy governance and China’s bid for global grid integration

By Phillip Cornell

Energy projects have always been a major part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure mega-plan for Eurasia. The enormity of that plan was on display at the BRI Forum last month, where an official report was released estimating that energy investments in BRI countries would add up to $27 trillion by 2050, with […]

China Energy Markets & Governance

In the News

May 22, 2019

Tran Quoted in the Financial Times on Shifting Trade and Supply Chains

Read the full article here.

China
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Experts

Fellow

Jonathan Corrado

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Indo-Pacific Security Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Indo-Pacific Korea

Staff

Caroline Costello

Assistant Director

Global China Hub

China Chinese

Fellow

Shawn Creamer

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

Security & Defense East Asia

Fellow

Parsifal D’Sola

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Global China Hub

China Chinese

Advisory Council member

Jean DeSombre

Member, Freedom and Prosperity Center Advisory Council

Freedom and Prosperity Center

East Asia Inclusive Growth

Fellow

Winnona DeSombre Bernsen

Nonresident Fellow

Cyber Statecraft Initiative

China Chinese
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Events

Public Event Mon, March 23, 2026 • 10:00 am ET

Kurt Campbell on what to expect from Trump’s Beijing visit
China Economy & Business Politics & Diplomacy Technology & Innovation
Public Event Wed, March 25, 2026 • 8:00 am ET

How the UN can respond to the arbitrary detention and repression of Uyghurs
China Human Rights