The Asia–Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) — a Japan–India initiative to promote connectivity between Asia and East Africa and encourage joint projects in Africa — is often misrepresented. All too often, the AAGC is depicted as a political move aimed exclusively at countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In the last decade, the strengthening of the India-Japan strategic partnership has been primarily driven by geopolitical considerations, in an era of competing regional visions and influence.

Concerns over becoming marginalized in the course of East Asian economic integration are driving a proactive regional trade agreement (RTA) strategy on the part of Taiwan. Three factors explain this concern: Competing visions of economic integration in the region from both the United States and China, the success of Korea in concluding a large number of important RTAs, and the increasing number of overlapping agreements that crowd out countries and economies such as Taiwan that do not have proactive RTA strategies.

After two years of existence at the Heads of State and Government level, the Group of 20 (G20) has reached a turning point. In this new context, a number of questions need to be addressed-in particular, as to how to ensure the transition from a crisis management body to a global governance committee. How can the G20 solve the legitimacy problems inherent to its structure and nature? How can it address its representativeness deficit? What should be the exact mandate of the Group and how can this mandate be achieved?