Robert D’A. Henderson

Robert D’A. Henderson is a retired professor of international relations who currently does international assessments and international elections monitoring. Among his recent writings is “China — Great Power Rising” in the Routledge Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft (London and New York).

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Robert D’A. Henderson's Latest Posts

Outlook for Asia in 2019

| December 29, 2018 | 0 Comments
Outlook for Asia in 2019

At the UN General Assembly in September, U.S. President Donald Trump projected an “America First” worldview that American sovereignty and national interests were more important than multilateral international institutions and agreements. Conversely, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been attempting to increase his country’s involvement in international organizations and multilateral pacts. Last autumn, CNN geopolitics analyst […]

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China’s Red Sea ambitions

| October 7, 2018 | 0 Comments
China’s Red Sea ambitions

At the end of July, two very large crude oil tankers from Saudi Arabia were attacked with anti-ship missiles by Yemeni rebels from the eastern shore of the Red Sea, just north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. One of the tankers was damaged slightly in the stern. As a result, the Saudi government ordered a […]

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Asian nations’ hotlines with China

| December 18, 2017 | 0 Comments
Asian nations’ hotlines with China

In December 2015, China and South Korea established a telephone hotline between their national defence ministries. Mainland China and South Korea share a maritime border in the Yellow Sea as well as bordering Air Defence Identification Zones. While there are some maritime and fisheries issues between them, the two countries enjoy generally peaceful relations. According […]

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Asia: Economic growth; political flux

| December 18, 2017 | 0 Comments
Asia: Economic growth; political flux

In the fall of 2017, there were two events in Asia that will set regional patterns into 2018 and beyond. First, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s secretary-general speech to the 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress in October contained his declaration that he would continue to work toward the “Chinese Dream” of becoming a developed country and […]

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Escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula draw in the world

| September 30, 2017 | 0 Comments
Escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula draw in the world

On Sept. 3, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) under Kim Jong-un detonated its sixth and largest nuclear test — estimated at between 50 and 100 kilotons — about three times larger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The state Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the North Korean regime […]

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Taiwan’s search for global space

| April 11, 2017 | 0 Comments
Taiwan’s search for global space

In early December 2016, U.S. president-elect Donald J. Trump accepted a congratulatory telephone call from President Tsai Ing-wen of the Republic of China (ROC)-Taiwan. In addition to breaking with decades of U.S.-China diplomatic protocol, this telephone conversation has been seen as one of the highest-profile examples of Taiwan’s ongoing search for international space in its […]

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Liberals’ China dilemma

| October 4, 2016 | 0 Comments
Liberals’ China dilemma

During the 2015 federal elections in Canada, the Liberal Party platform spoke of building up the Canadian middle class. One of the ways it said it would do that was by forging greater trade relations with emerging markets, including China. But, during the Munk Centre foreign policy debate between the Liberal, Conservative and NDP leaders, […]

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Taiwanese President Tsai’s to-do list

| March 22, 2016 | 0 Comments
Taiwanese President Tsai’s to-do list

Unprecedented election results in January have produced unprecedented options for Taiwanese President-elect Tsai Ing-wen in domestic politics, international trade and cross-strait relations with Mainland China. For the third time, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency, with Tsai winning 56 percent of the popular vote. The long-ruling nationalist party (Kuomintang or KMT) candidate, […]

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