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Joseph Webster

Joseph Webster is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and Indo-Pacific Security Initiative; he also edits the independent China-Russia Report.

Joseph Webster is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, where he specializes in energy geopolitics. Parallel to his energy work, Joe edits the China-Russia Report, an independent, non-partisan newsletter exploring developments in Sino-Russian relations.

His energy and geopolitical analyses have been cited in Axios, Politico, Politico Europe, The Diplomat, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, inter alia.

Joe completed a master’s degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, where he was a Mount Vernon fellow, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland. Joe is proficient in Mandarin Chinese.

Posts by Joseph Webster

February 19, 2025

To Outcompete China, the US Must Automate Maritime Supply Chains

By Joseph Webster and Grace Hyemin Kim

Failing to optimize port logistics and automation will damage U.S. economic competitiveness, especially vis-à-vis China.

June 03, 2024

How China’s Battery Complex Figures in Ties With Russia

By Joseph Webster

China’s development of batteries and other clean energy technologies will ultimately constrain Russia’s hydrocarbon complex, complicating ties.

February 13, 2024

China-Russia Energy Ties Feature in the Xi-Putin Lunar New Year Call

By Joseph Webster

Sino-Russian oil trade grew in 2023, although Putin might have been piqued by Chinese actions on coal and inaction of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline.

December 21, 2023

China and Russia Are Trying to Stack the Deck in 2024 Elections

By Joseph Webster

Beijing is attempting to sway Taiwan’s voters, while Moscow aims to tilt the U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump.

November 23, 2023

The West Shouldn’t Forget China’s Pro-Russia Neutrality

By Joseph Webster

The China-U.S. leaders’ meeting in San Francisco was constructive, but DC and Brussels shouldn’t forget Beijing’s enduring pro-Putin stance.

October 20, 2023

The Xi-Putin Meeting: A United Front, But Troubles on the Horizon

By Joseph Webster

The leaders of China and Russia defiantly stood shoulder-to-shoulder even as Chinese renewables pose major risks to the bilateral relationship.

September 23, 2023

Will Russia and China Agree to the Power of Siberia 2?

By Joseph Webster

The proposed pipeline has astonishingly poor project economics. It might be built regardless.

August 15, 2023

Will a China-Led Global Recession Influence Beijing’s Russia Policy?

By Joseph Webster

China’s domestic economic realities are colliding with Xi’s geopolitical ambitions and impacting Beijing’s Russia policy.

July 18, 2023

Russia, China, and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

By Joseph Webster

The Kremlin is unlikely to order an attack on a Ukrainian nuclear facility, partly because of its relationship with Beijing.

June 17, 2023

China and Russia May Be Expanding Natural Gas Cooperation – Just Not Via Power of Siberia 2

By Joseph Webster

Beijing and Moscow are more likely to cooperate in liquefied natural gas and Central Asian natural gas, not the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline.

May 16, 2023

Sensing Opportunities, China Weighs Its Diplomatic Options in Europe

By Joseph Webster

Beijing is trying to drive a wedge between the U.S. and Europe, hedging against an unlikely but possible Russian military collapse.

April 05, 2023

Could the US Block Russian Oil Exports to China? Yes, But It’s a Bad Idea

By Joseph Webster

A U.S. blockade of Russian maritime crude oil exports to China is feasible, but would be extremely unwise outside of wartime or near-wartime conditions.