China’s Iron Fist Reaches Across the Globe | Keeping Senegal’s Success Story Alive | The Axis of Denial, and more

While there are many alternatives, two options for deterring Russia from a renewed attack are especially prominent in the debate ahead of next week’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The first is formal NATO membership for Ukraine, and the second is the so-called Israel option, which would entail building up Ukrainian military power with continued Western military aid—so that Kyiv’s strength and bristling arsenal alone can deter Russian aggression. Each option has its selling points, and both have serious drawbacks. Yet for all its problems, NATO membership may end up being the least-bad option, worth the hard diplomatic work it will take to achieve it.

The Long Reach of China’s Demographic Destiny  (Yi Fuxian, Project Syndicate)
Although China is on the verge of escaping the dreaded “middle-income trap,” it is aging fast and facing significant economic headwinds as a result. After underpinning the unbalanced and ultimately self-destructive economic relationship with the United States for decades, the one-child policy will continue to exact a toll.

Taiwan to Expand Presence in India Amid Growing Economic Ties  (Anjana Pasricha, VOA News)
In a signal that India-Taiwan economic ties are on the rise, Taipei this week announced it will expand its presence in the country by opening a representative office in Mumbai.
While New Delhi has maintained a low profile on political contacts with Taiwan, business ties between the two countries have been expanding in recent years.

China’s Iron Fist Reaches Across the Globe  (Editorial Board, Washington Post)
China is swallowing once-free Hong Kong into its unforgiving dictatorship — and even trying to intimidate and capture dissidents who have fled to democratic countries.
On July 3, Hong Kong police announced arrest warrants for eight democracy activists and former legislators who are abroad and offered a bounty of up to 1 million Hong Kong dollars, or $127,635, for information leading to their arrest. This is a brazen example of transnational repression, in which dictators extend their police state methods into free societies. For years, China has engaged in this odious practice, sometimes kidnapping people it wants to punish, such as Gui Minhai, a bookseller grabbed while on vacation in Thailand, and Wang Bingzhang, a dissident abducted in Vietnam.

Germany Sends Troops to Australia in a First as Berlin Shifts Focus to Indo-Pacific (Sabine Siebold, Reuters)
Germany will, for the first time, send troops to Australia as part of joint drills with some 30,000 service members from 12 other nations, underlining Berlin’s increased focus on the Indo-Pacific amid rising tensions with China in the region.
In recent years, Germany has had a greater military presence in the Indo-Pacific, even as this means walking a tightrope between its security and economic interests.
“It is a region of extremely high importance for us in Germany as well as for the European Union due to the economic interdependencies”, Army Chief Alfons Mais told Reuters in an interview published on Monday, hours before the first German troops were to leave for Australia.
China is Berlin’s most important trading partner, and 40% of Europe’s foreign trade flows through the South China Sea, a waterway that is a focal point for territorial disputes in the Indo-Pacific.