South East Asia

Germany, the U.K. and France deploy warships as Europe increasingly recognizes the security challenges posed by China’s rise. A German frigate that left the country yesterday for the Indo-Pacific region will be Berlin’s first warship to cross the South China Sea in almost 20 years. This follows the United Kingdom’s …

On July 28, 2021, in the Chinese city of Tianjin, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a visiting delegation from Afghanistan. The leader of the delegation was Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder of the Taliban and head of its political commission. The Taliban has been making significant territorial …

Task Force Eagle at Fort Lee, Virginia, is supporting the mission of relocating up to 3,500 Afghan special immigrant applicants in support of the State Department and as directed by the Defense Department. Army Col. Karin L. Watson, Fort Lee’s garrison commander, said the installation received notification of its role …

The Afghan Air Force on August 5 resumed air strikes against Taliban positions in southern Afghanistan as militants made additional gains in the country’s north. A Defense Ministry statement said air strikes were carried out across the country, including in the southern Helmand Province where government forces are battling for …

In the last three years, Indonesia and the southern Philippines have seen something new: women carrying out suicide bombings – some with their husbands, some with their children, and some avenging slain husbands – targeting churchgoers, police officers, and soldiers.1 In Malaysia, during the May 2018 general election, a 51-year-old …

The Taliban condemned the United States on Wednesday for what they described as “plain interference” in Afghanistan by offering to resettle Afghan civilians with affiliations to international forces who could be targeted by the insurgent group. Washington on Monday announced the program that offers thousands of Afghan interpreters and translators, …

There’s a variety of concerns that keep Indo-Pacom on its toes — many centered around the activities of China, which quite often don’t match up with the words that come out of Beijing, its commander said. “We certainly view with concern many of the actions that we’ve seen from Beijing,” …

India has deployed warships to the South China Sea in what New Delhi proclaims to be a bid to expand security ties with “friendly countries” and in an apparent move to join and play a bigger role in a US-led scheme to counter China near Chinese territorial waters. Four Indian …

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 …