South East Asia

‘Binary divisions’ are common in international politics, where two opposite sides view the other through a ‘zero-sum game’ mentality. For other countries, it always poses a dilemma—closeness with one country would not be seen positively by its rival. India has witnessed the United States/West–Russia (former Soviet Union) rivalry, which has …

China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, or as it is called in China, “One Belt, One Road”, is much better known under the name “New Silk Road”. It’s one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects of all time. The initiative was launched in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and includes …

China is actively fostering and encouraging innovation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) via a multitude of approaches. With the order from the Chinese government, Apple has removed over 100 artificial intelligence applications from the Chinese App Store. These apps have broken enacted governmental regulations that seek to curb …

Despite the recent opening of some of channels of communication between China and the United States, the two major powers are still at loggerheads over a panoply of global and regional security issues that have tremendous bearings on Philippine security. The current state of China-US relations remains tense and the …

Russia and China post-Ukraine invasion by Russia by all visible indicators stand intertwined geopolitically and strategically compelled by their respective diplomatic isolations of Russia by NATO and China by United States–led alliances and Strategic Partnerships in Indo Pacific, leading to the crucial question as to whether the Ukraine-cemented Russia-China Strategic …

When the Wagner mutiny first happened in late June, it shocked most strategists and observers in China. To them, it added a whole new layer of uncertainty to their understanding of Russian domestic politics, the Russian-Ukrainian War, and China’s overall external security environment. With Russian President Vladimir Putin now appearing …

Will a Toughened China Strategy Be Enough? In 2020, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called on Europe to forge its “own way” with China and distance itself from the “open confrontation” approach pursued by U.S. President Donald Trump. The goal of Borrell’s “Sinatra doctrine,” so named in …

On the heels of the recent NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, it has again become clear that this small but ardent Baltic country is emblematic of a restructuring and rebalancing of European relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its Communist Party leadership. In 2021, Lithuania dared to …

The 32nd report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team of the 1267 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, released this week, noted that “one Member State assessed that Al-Qaeda is shaping AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent).

It is generally recognized that any discussion on South Asia without reference to India would be putting the cart before the horse. In the article Why France and India Are Natural Partners, Antonia Collabasanu (July 20 2034-Geopolitical Futures) has emphasized the importance of Franco-Indian collaboration as a preeminent feature of …