South East Asia

Before sitting down to write this week’s column, I opened a large and tattered, white, padded envelope that had arrived from Hong Kong late last week to find the final issue of the city’s once famously feisty newspaper, the Apple Daily, which was forced by local authorities to shut down …

Biden officials’ claims that the US doesn’t ‘seek conflict’ is belied by pushes to continually one-up Beijing’s defenses. One purpose of Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s meetings in China on Monday was to place “guardrails” on the deteriorating relationship. She told her counterparts that the United States welcomes “stiff …

The war-torn state was an important proving ground for Balkan militaries for almost 20 years – but it came at a considerable expense, and that money can now be usefully redirected. After the United States and NATO earlier this year finally ended the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, Balkan NATO …

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is not yet complete, but Afghanistan’s neighbors are already contending with its fallout as they face the immediate spillover of the conflict into their respective territories. The insurgency has reached the borders of all of Afghanistan’s neighbors, who are choosing to both engage the Taliban …

The Turkish contingent in Afghanistan will not assume any combat duty other than self-defense, Defense Ministry spokeswoman Pinar Kara said on Thursday. “The Turkish armed forces have been stationed in Afghanistan for 20 years, and for the past six years, they have been protecting and running the international airport in …

As the geopolitical game between the United States and other Western countries against China continues, the United States, Britain, Europe, Canada, and other countries in the West are assaulting China over the Xinjiang human rights issue and have imposed unilateral sanctions on a number of Chinese officials and institutions. In …

Over the past few months, Beijing’s increasingly uncompromising posture toward policy disagreements with foreign powers has been reflected in the strident rhetoric used by Chinese officials. The latest round of U.S.-China high-level diplomacy was no exception. But several incidents this week demonstrated how this sharp, aggressive tone on the part …

The armed group has emerged as a strong player as US-led foreign forces pull out of Afghanistan after 20 years. The Taliban have won a string of battlefield victories in recent weeks as the United States-led foreign forces are about to complete pull-out from Afghanistan after 20 years. The armed …

Turkey has done a rather good job meeting the immediate and mid-term needs of Syrian refugees, but it is now at a crossroads on whether to have a long-term integration policy, experts say. As the influx of Afghan refugees to Turkey spurs anti-refugee sentiment in the country, Ankara’s policy on …

China sends covert teams abroad to bring back people accused — justifiably or not — of financial crimes. One New Jersey family was stalked as part of a global campaign that takes families hostage and pressures immigrants to serve as spies. On the hunt again, the cop from Wuhan rolled …