By Patrick Luczak, UC San Diego and Abraham Wu, UC San Diego 2026 Jimmy Carter Center Prize Winner Annual China Focus Essay Contest of the 21th Century China Center, UC San Diego Abstract Most of digital life feels instant and wireless. Messages move, video calls connect, and AI answers arrive in seconds. But much of that traffic still depends on physical submarine cables running across the ocean floor. Submarine cables are easy to ignore because they work so well. As U.S.-Ch

By Quinn Ennis, Yale University 2026 1990 Institute Prize Winner Annual China Focus Essay Contest of the 21th Century China Center, UC San Diego Abstract The Lithium Triangle of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile holds the majority of known lithium reserves in the world. Though Chinese and U.S. firms have spent billions of dollars to secure their individual lithium extraction networks, this money has flowed into a governance vacuum. There is no binding multilateral standard that g