SWF Radar

Daniel Drezner writes in the National Interest that, “Lost amid the financial chaos of the past six weeks was the revelation that China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange used a $300 million purchase of government bonds and a $150 million grant to Costa Rica in return for that country's decision to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan after sixty-three years and recognize the People's Republic of China. Being able to offer big carrots to small countries is a very handy tool in great-power foreign policy. And the current crisis suggests that the United States is not the only country that can proffer such carrots.”