South East Asia

China’s Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong. Shanghai Communist Party chief Li Qiang, 63, followed Xi onto the stage at the Great Hall of …

China’s ruling Communist Party reaffirmed President Xi Jinping’s continued dominance in running the nation Saturday, one day ahead of giving him a widely expected third five-year term as leader. A party congress effectively removed Premier Li Keqiang from senior leadership. Li, the nation’s No. 2 official, is a proponent of …

With Xi casting himself as a 21st-century Mao, China risks ‘arbitrary rule’. Vastness is a defining feature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It has more than 96 million members, and the party’s official list of heroes and martyrs counts two million names of those remembered for their storied lives …

President Xi Jinping kicked off the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) National Congress, which charts its policy trajectory for the next five years and finalises its future leadership, with an address to the Party faithful for nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes. This year, the CCP’s leadership conclave comes amidst a …

The Return of Beijing’s Dubious Economic Growth Targets For most of the past four decades, economic development has been the Chinese government’s lodestar. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has implicitly justified its rule by pointing to expansive growth. Indeed, since the Chinese leadership first unveiled an annual growth target, in …

The following are major takeaways from Xi Jinping’s report to the ongoing 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). — Our Party has dedicated itself to achieving lasting greatness for the Chinese nation and committed itself to the noble cause of peace and development for humanity. Our …

On 13 September, during the European Parliament Plenary Session, the High Representative Josep Borrell said that the EU seeks ‘to broaden our cooperation with Taiwan, [and] to modernise our dialogue with Taiwan. But all of it in the framework of the One China Policy, which recognises the People’s Republic as …

The United States’ newly released national security strategy calls for restrained use of the American military in the Middle East. Instead, it prioritizes “out-competing China and constraining Russia” while criticizing the expanded missions of U.S. wars in recent decades. “We will not use our military to change regimes or remake …

Cracks have emerged in their marriage of convenience, but the two autocrats are in it for the long haul. Anyone who has been in a relationship knows there are good days and not so good days. While trust and respect are the bedrock of healthy partnerships, transactional and even toxic …

US President Joe Biden has signed a classified policy limiting counterterrorism drone strikes outside conventional war zones, including Afghanistan, New York Times reported this week. The policy requires Biden’s approval before a suspected terrorist is added to a list of those who can be targeted for “direct action,” in a …