Third-party Countries Research Articles

Pakistan-Bangladesh Unresolved Issues During the Era of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid

This research offers a thorough study of Pak-Bangladesh relations under the direction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid from her return to power in 2009 to the present. Understood within the larger framework of South Asian geopolitics, the study aims to clarify the evolution, dynamics, and subtleties of the bilateral relationship between Pakistan and Bangladesh. It looks at how interactions between the two countries have been shaped by historical legacies, home political environments, and regional as well as worldwide factors. The study is organized around themes of the historical background of Pak-Bangladesh relations, the effect of Sheikh Hasina's leadership on bilateral ties, the function of economic and trade alliances, and the influence of third-party countries and international organizations. Examined are important events, diplomatic interactions, and policy choices to find their underlying reasons and effects. Particularly under consideration are divisive topics including historical grievances, economic cooperation, security difficulties, and cultural diplomacy.

Fencing or balancing? An exploratory study of Australian and New Zealand exporters’ strategic responses during the US-China trade war

PurposeA key challenge for exporters and international marketing/purchasing managers is formulating strategic responses to deal with geopolitical disruptions during a trade war between superpowers. While past studies provide insightful analysis of the influence of changes in the institutional environment (regulatory pressures) on national and firm-level trade activities, they tend to ignore the association between inward (sourcing) or outward (export) international activities of firms during a trade war. In this study, we aim to explore various strategic options employed by third-party SME exporters in response to geopolitical disruptions, institutional pressures and constraints during a trade war.Design/methodology/approachWe adopted a qualitative methodology and applied a hermeneutical approach in collecting, analysing and theorising interview findings. We conducted interviews with 15 owners or senior managers from 12 Australian and New Zealand exporters that exported or sourced significantly from at least one party of the trade war, the USA or China, between 2018 and 2020.FindingsOur study developed a typology of fencing vs. balancing for explaining third-party SME exporters’ response strategies in terms of export market and international sourcing locations during a trade war. Fencing strategy centres on location choice decisions based on a fence or a secure buffer zone. Balancing strategy focuses on leveraging opportunities outside the conflict zone, i.e. third-party countries. Our study finds that exporters’ location choice decisions are influenced by a number of institutional factors during the trade war.Research limitations/implicationsFirstly, our study examined only the early phase of the trade war under the “Trump” era. Future research may consider a longitudinal study design that examines exporters’ responses to global political uncertainty over a longer term. Secondly, we chose Australia and New Zealand as the focal context of this study. Future research could investigate exporters from other third-party countries that have different institutional conditions during the US-China trade war.Practical implicationsFirstly, an exporting firm should monitor and assess closely the wider changes in international relations between their home country’s major security partner and major trading partner, and the impact of these changes on the political risks of operating in international locations. Secondly, as the trade war intensifies, the fencing option needs to be given a greater weight than the balancing option in the strategic decision making of an exporter from a third-party country. Lastly, we encourage marketers and managers to reflect on and differentiate short-term and long-term benefits in strategic market-sourcing location decisions.Originality/valueOur study makes a pioneering effort to theorise the linkages between institutional factors and the combined evaluation of export market selection and sourcing location selection choices under global political uncertainty based on the institution-based view. We present a conceptual framework highlighting the importance of institutional avoidance, embeddedness, comparative institutional advantages and multiple institutional logics for SME exporters’ international location selections during the trade war. Furthermore, we combine these institutional factors into two overarching constructs namely institutional buffer and institutional pluralism.

Third-party countries in cyber conflict: Public opinion and conflict spillover in cyberspace

The transnational nature of cyberspace alters the role of third-party countries (TPCs) in international conflict. In the conventional environment, military operations are primarily confined to the boundaries of the combatants or a designated war zone. However, during cyber conflicts, operations may occur on the digital infrastructure of states not otherwise involved in the dispute. Nevertheless, within the cyber conflict literature, little is said about TPCs who, by virtue of interconnectivity, may find themselves involved in a conflict not of their own making. Consequently, we examine the political and diplomatic hazards of cyber operations involving these actors. Through survey experiments involving participants from the United Kingdom and Canada, we assess the public opinion impact of an offensive cyber operation’s revelation on a TPC population. We find that while these incidents are viewed negatively, prior authorization and the involvement of an ally reduces this tendency. Such conditions lead the public to perceive these operations as corresponding with their national interest while suppressing fears of the possible consequences following their indirect involvement.

Cyber Warfare as a Use of Force against Third-Party Countries: The Perspective of International Law

The use of force in international relations takes different forms and changes year by year due to the development of cyber technology. The problem mentioned in this study is that the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter) and international law have not considered weapons development and future weapons that may be used in international relations, as Russia has used such weapons during the war against Ukraine. Unfortunately, cyber technologies were used to deter and weaken Ukraine’s chance to gain an advanced result on the ground. Although such cyber operations can cause the same physical damage as other weapons, the international community is still struggling to determine whether using a cyber weapon is considered a use of force. This study argues that cyber attacks against third-party countries that support Ukraine during the war may count as the use of force and a breach of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

Paving Their Own Road? Local Chinese and World Bank Aid and Foreign Direct Investment in Africa

Abstract China’s emergence as a major donor and economic partner to sub-Saharan Africa has prompted questions if the aims and impacts of China’s efforts in the region are driven by self-serving commercial motives. While there are strong reasons to think that the foreign aid may make a location more attractive to investment, generally, by improving the infrastructural, institutional, or human capital environment and/or by serving as a signal of a location’s risk, there is also reason to suspect that Chinese aid may be “paving the way” for investment by Chinese firms. To investigate, this paper uses spatial and temporal variations in localized, geo-referenced data to find a strong overall support that local aid boosts local foreign direct investment (FDI). However, we also find some evidence that Chinese aid boosts its own FDI compared to FDI from third-party countries; but this differential effect is also visible with the Chinese FDI’s response to the World Bank aid as well as in the relationship between both aid and FDI from the USA, suggesting that the Chinese FDI may simply be following any aid and that the relationship between its aid and FDI is not exceptional among bilateral donors.

The rally ‘round the flag effect in third parties: the case of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

ABSTRACT Immediately after the onset of a war, the popularity of the head of a warring government suddenly surges. Known as the “rally ‘round the flag effect”, this phenomenon may well spill over to third-party countries that are not actually at war. This paper specifically studies the case of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We exploited the results of surveys in Czechia, Japan, and Uruguay that were already underway when the conflict began. We identify the indirect rally effect of the war on citizens' support for the party of the head of government by comparing respondents who joined the surveys before or after the outbreak of the war. We found that the war increased approval for the national leader's party by around three percentage points in Japan and six percentage points in Uruguay, which is comparable to the size of direct rally effects. However, this was not the case in Czechia.

Main problems, opportunities and Countermeasures of China India cooperation from the perspective of Geopolitics

Based on the development and changes of Sino-Indian relations since the 21st century, this paper analyzes the geopolitical problems faced by Sino-Indian cooperation from the perspectives of conflict of strategic interests in the Indian Ocean, issues left over from history, and interference from third-party countries. The development opportunities faced by China-India cooperation are analyzed from three aspects: infrastructure investment, India’s social and economic structural transformation, and China’s new strategic layout, and prospects for cooperation between China and India in the post-epidemic period are prospected.

Brothers in Arms, Brothers in Trade? Measuring the Effect of Violent Conflicts on Trade with Third-Party Countries

Brothers in Arms, Brothers in Trade? Measuring the Effect of Violent Conflicts on Trade with Third-Party Countries

Koruma sorumluğu Kapsamında Kıbrıs Barış Harekatı

The use of military intervention against Humanitarian Crises during the Cold War was a concept that was limited in world politics and international law. Today, despite the theoretical and legal debates, sometimes by UN Security Council resolutions and sometimes by exceeding the only legitimate authorized institution of the use of force, states implement their responsibility to protect against third-party countries. Studies on the responsibility to protect, covering the history and theory of international relations, call the Cyprus Peace Operation a controversial example of humanitarian intervention in terms of the international community's reaction and the operation's legitimacy. Therefore, it will be examined within the framework of the responsibility to protect (R2P) in international political theory. In the 1990s, the International Relations literature defined humanitarian intervention as limiting the sovereignty of states against global atrocities. After the 2005 Earth Summit, R2P, third-party action against humanitarian crises, becomes a normative order-forming phenomenon. The phenomenon will allow us to examine the 1974 peace movement within the context of its responsibility to protect it. Discussions on the Cyprus Peace Operation under the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be used as the study's research method in the Parliamentary Budget Discussions.

China\u2019s ban of imported recyclable waste and its impact on the waste plastic recycling industry in China and Taiwan

In 2017 the Chinese government announced to a ban on the importation of several kinds of recyclable waste that could be replaced by domestic recyclable waste. Current research on this subject has placed an emphasis on the issues faced by exporting countries and Southeast Asia as an alternative destination of plastic wastes. However, there has been little study on changes in the waste recycling industry in China and other export destinations such as Taiwan. In this study, I conducted a field survey in China and Taiwan and reviewed the history of Chinese recyclable waste import policy and its impacts on plastic recycling industries. The results show that China switched from directly importing waste plastics from exporting countries to importing recycled pellets via third-party countries, primarily from Southeast Asia. Although Taiwan’s import volume of waste plastics has increased since 2018, improper (i.e. illegal) imports such as those commonly reported in Southeast Asian countries have not been reported in Taiwan. Even after Taiwan implemented tightened import controls in October 2018, it was still able to import enough recycled waste to meet domestic demand. The case of Taiwan shows that proper import controls can contribute to a more sustainable global circular economy.

Enforcing Openness: Trade Protectionism and Intervention in Civil Wars

ABSTRACT Governments may resort to a wide range of economic policies to generate revenue and compensate certain sectors in civil wars. Such measures block market access and hurt the interests of third-party countries operating in this market, giving the latter an incentive to shape the course of events in the conflict. To empirically demonstrate this argument, I look at changes in tariff rates adopted by civil war governments to restrict international trade during conflict. I find strong empirical evidence that external actors consider economic interventions on behalf of the government to meet the demand for revenue and for a return to more liberal policies.

Effects of United States Anti-dumping Actions on Sino-U.S. Trade in Steel Products

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the effects of the United States (U.S.) anti-dumping policy targeting China’s steel products, based on the HS 10-digit code monthly data from 1995 to 2015. It shows that as soon as the U.S. government implemented the affirmative preliminary ruling of an anti-dumping case, the volume of Chinese exports to the U.S. decreased regardless of the outcome of the final ruling. In the meantime, the U.S. imports of the involved products from other competing countries increased. It further finds that China’s exports of the impacted products were diverted to the third-party countries, most of which were developing countries. This finding is contrary to those of studies from other industries such as textiles and agricultural products.

Changing Fertility Landscapes: Exploring the Reproductive Routes and Choices of Fertility Patients from China for Assisted Reproduction in Russia.

Global reproductive landscapes and with them cross-border routes are rapidly changing. This paper examines the reproductive routes and choices of fertility travellers from China to Russia as reported by medical professionals and fertility service providers. Providing new empirical data, it raises new ethical questions on the facilitation of cross-border reproductive travel and the commercialisation of reproductive treatment. The relaxation of the one-child policy in 2014 in China, the increasing demand for ART exceeding the capacity of national fertility clinics and the difficulty of accessing treatment with donor eggs concomitant with a growing economic power of the upper–middle class are shaping the ART industry in Asia in new ways. A new development is Chinese citizens increasingly seeking ART treatment in Russia, which has a long-standing practice of ART governed by a liberal legislation. Furthermore, as China prohibits the export of gametes, Chinese fertility travellers rely on acquiring donor gametes once starting treatment abroad. Clinicians in Russia report three strategies amongst their Chinese patients: One group is using donor eggs of women of Asian appearance living in Russia or is hiring women of resembling appearance from third-party countries to donate their eggs in Russia to create resemblance in their offspring. Another group is buying white donor gametes to create Eurasian mixed children and thus ‘enhance’ their offspring. Providing novel empirical data, this article informs ethical deliberation and raises imminent questions for further research in this understudied geographic region and on cross-border reproductive treatment.

Institutional barriers to participation in EU framework programs: contrasting the Swiss and UK cases

The aim of this study was to examine how institutional barriers arising from policy decisions influence the level of participation of third-party countries in European Framework Programs (EU-FPs). To achieve this, we contrasted the effect of EU funding restrictions following Switzerland’s 2014 reclassification as a “third country” in Horizon 2020, and the political uncertainties resulting from the 2016 Brexit vote in the United Kingdom (UK). We compared the participation patterns of Swiss and UK higher education institutions (HEIs) with control groups of similar European HEIs over time and, complementarily, analyzed changes in the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Our results showed that the Brexit-induced uncertainty had stronger negative effects than the Swiss reclassification, which was, however, characterized by effective EU funding restrictions. In both cases, the negative impact of institutional barriers was stronger for the more central HEIs in EU-FP networks. These results suggest that the effect of institutional barriers is closely linked to consortium building mechanisms, where research collaboration requires stability and projection over the long term. Regarding individual grants, the impact was stronger for Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions than for European Research Council grants, suggesting that a researcher’s mobility is affected by political uncertainties. Finally, in the UK case, we observed a steep decrease in the participation of SMEs. Based on these results, we suggest that a stable framework of participation and a clear ruling on relationships with the EU for what concerns people’s mobility and economic relationships are key to fostering the participation of third-party countries.

Le Pont De Londres: Interactions between Monetary and Prudential Policies in Cross-Border Lending

We examine how euro area (EA) monetary policy and recipient-country prudential policy interact to influence cross-border lending of French banks. We find that monetary spillovers via cross-border lending can be partially offset by prudential measures in receiving countries. We then explore heterogeneities, specifically by bank size and location of the affiliate (French HQ vs. affiliates based in the UK). We find that the response of lending from French HQ to EA monetary policy is less sensitive to recipient-country prudential policy for systemic banks (GSIBs) than for non-GSIBs’. In contrast, the response of lending from GSIBs’ affiliates in the UK is sensitive to recipient-country prudential policy. French GSIBs’ crossborder lending from French HQ responds differently than lending from international financial centres. We also find evidence that French GSIBs channel funds towards the UK in response to EA monetary policy, in a manner dampened by global prudential policy setting. These findings suggest the existence of a ‘London Bridge’: conditional on EA monetary policy, French GSIBs adjust their funds in the UK depending on global prudential policies and, from there, lend to third-party countries according to local prudential policies. Finally, we have similar findings for all EA-owned banks UK affiliates, suggesting a broader relevance for the London Bridge.

Simultaneous Quantitative Detection of Six Families of Antibiotics in Honey Using A Biochip Multi-Array Technology.

Chemical residues of veterinary drugs such as streptomycin, chloramphenicol, macrolides, sulphonamides, tetracyclines, quinolones and aminoglycosides and other contaminants such as pesticides and heavy metals have been found in honey, leading to concerns for human health. Indeed, there is a growing interest in their presence and persistence in the environment because low levels of antibiotics may favour the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Moreover, antibiotics present in honey may produce residues in foodstuffs, causing adverse effects on humans such as allergic reactions, toxic effects and damage to the central nervous systems. For food and health/safety reasons, antibiotic drugs are not authorized for the treatment of honey bees in the EU, even though these antimicrobial drugs have been approved in many third-party countries. For this reason, contaminated honey products can still be found in European markets. Therefore, there is a need to develop a precise, accurate and sensitive analytical method that may be used to simply and rapidly detect these compounds in honey. The aim of our study was to detect the presence of antibiotics in Apulian honey using the Anti-Microbial array II (AM II) as an innovative screening method to test the health quality of honey and honey products.

Blocking Progress: The Damaging Side Effects of Economic Sanctions

During the twentieth century, economic sanctions became more prevalent. In the twenty-first century they have become a frequently used tool for governments seeking to change the behaviour of other countries. An extensive research literature exists on the effectiveness of sanctions. Overall the research shows that sanctions very rarely achieve foreign policy goals. At the same time, sanctions create negative externalities. Sanctions limit the economic well-being of people in targeted countries, in some cases leading to malnourishment or even starvation. They also undermine economic and civil liberties, instead encouraging centralised state control. While sanctions are often aimed at destabilising governments, people in sanctioned countries often turn to their government when the country is isolated from the global marketplace. The sanctions on Russia in early 2014 coincided with Vladimir Putin’s popularity rising from an all-time low to an all-time high point. The sanctions against Russia have led to a trade loss estimated at US$114 billion, with US$44 billion borne by the sanctioning Western countries. In percentage terms, Germany bears almost 40 per cent of the Western trade loss, compared with just 0.6 per cent incurred by the United States. Two wealthy countries that are neutral in sanctions against Russia – Israel and Switzerland – have experienced a trade loss of 25% between 2014 and 2016. This is nearly as high as the 30% trade loss of the largest four sanctioning economies. Since sanctions undermine global value chains, neutral third-party countries are also hurt. Fostering global value chains is a better strategy for promoting security, since economic interdependency makes peace a more attractive alternative than conflict. Market exchange is typically a better option than sanctions if the objective is a free, peaceful and prosperous world.

Terroryzm sponsorowany przez państwa. Casus bliskowschodnich państw-sponsorów

The point of interest in this paper is the issue of state-sponsored terrorism. The essence of this form of terrorism is the intentional (indirect or direct) support, offered by state sponsors to terrorist organizations, and the intention to let them achieve their political, strategic or tactical goals, usually concerning the citizens, governments or the territory of third-party countries. The paper presents a classification of the range of such support and concentrates on the analysis of the motives and means applied by the state sponsors. Owing to historical conditions and the range and scope of support granted, the paper uses the examples of Iran, Syria and Iraq. Only the former two states offer permanent support to terrorist organizations in the Middle East. After the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraqi authorities have abandoned this activity as it was actually harmful to the interests of their country.

Environmental Protection for Sale: Strategic Green Industrial Policy and Climate Finance

Industrial policy has long been criticized as subject to protectionist interests; accordingly, subsidies to domestic producers face disciplines under World Trade Organization agreements, without exceptions for environmental purposes. Now green industrial policy is gaining popularity as governments search for low-carbon solutions that also provide jobs at home. The strategic trade literature has largely ignored the issue of market failures related to green goods. I consider the market for a new environmental good (like low-carbon technology) whose downstream consumption provides external benefits (like reduced emissions). Governments may have some preference for supporting domestic production, such as by interest-group lobbying, introducing a political distortion in their objective function. I examine the national incentives and global rationales for offering production (upstream) and deployment (downstream) subsidies in producer countries, allowing that some of the downstream market may lie in nonregulating third-party countries. Restraints on upstream subsidies erode global welfare when environmental externalities are large enough relative to political distortions. Climate finance is an effective alternative if political distortions are large and governments do not undervalue carbon costs. Numerical simulations of the case of renewable energy indicate that a modest social cost of carbon can imply benefits from allowing upstream subsidies.

Environmental Protection for Sale: Strategic Green Industrial Policy and Climate Finance

Industrial policy has long been criticized as subject to protectionist interests; accordingly, subsidies to domestic producers face disciplines under World Trade Organization agreements, without exceptions for environmental purposes. Now green industrial policy is gaining popularity as governments search for low-carbon solutions that also provide jobs at home. The strategic trade literature has largely ignored the issue of market failures related to green goods. I consider the market for a new environmental good (such as low-carbon technology) whose downstream consumption provides external benefits (such as reduced emissions). Governments may have some preference for supporting domestic production, such as by interest-group lobbying, introducing a political distortion in their objective function. I examine the national incentives and global rationales for offering production (upstream) and deployment (downstream) subsidies in producer countries, allowing that some of the downstream market may lie in nonregulating third-party countries. Restraints on upstream subsidies erode global welfare when environmental externalities are large enough relative to political distortions. Climate finance is an effective alternative if political distortions are large and governments do not undervalue carbon costs. Numerical simulations of the case of renewable energy indicate that a modest social cost of carbon can imply benefits from allowing upstream subsidies.