China Talks of Unity, But Beijing Always Comes First
For all China's pledges of unity with Asian nations on trade, its actions in the South China Sea tell a different story — one where Beijing's interests always come at the expense of its neighbors.
The world's second-largest economy regularly positions itself as the champion of the rules-based order. That argument has been easier to make in the face of Donald Trump's trade war. The US president's ' Liberation Day ' tariffs hit Southeast Asia particularly hard, with Vietnam and Cambodia seeing rates of 46% and 49%, respectively.
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