South East Asia

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently embarked on his first foreign tour since the pandemic began, visiting Kazakhstan and then attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan. One month ahead of the 20th Party Congress, where President Xi is expected to further consolidate power, the trip provided an opportunity for …

The Biden administration will soon release its National Security Strategy, which is being revised in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The document will no doubt trigger a renewed debate about how the United States should gear up for a new Cold War against Russia and China. But before …

Could Beijing Have Taken a Different Path? On a visit to China in the summer of 1988, I encountered a widespread sense of drift and despair. The official inflation rate at 18.5 percent, and the actual rate was probably higher. State statistics said that 21 percent of urban workers had …

Pressure, Not Engagement, Is the Best Way to Help Afghans One year after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, it is clear that the extremist group has changed little since it first seized control of the country in 1996. In March 2022, the Taliban decided not to reopen girls’ …

China is still circling Taiwan, conducting daily military exercises, months after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the country. Now that tensions are rising, with various diplomatic conversations between the US and China happening, Biden says he’s ready to deploy US troops if and when the need arises. In an …

In Vienna, China’s permanent mission to the United Nations has been rather exercised of late. Members of the mission have been particularly irate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and its Director General, Rafael Grossi, who addressed the IAEA’s Board of Governors on September 12. Grossi was building on a …

Chinese President Xi Jinping will leave China for the first time in more than two years in a trip to Central Asia that aims to boost Chinese leadership in the region and reaffirm Beijing’s partnership with Moscow in a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The trip marks Xi’s return …

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said Wednesday that casualties were reported in clashes across the Durand Line on Tuesday after Pakistan opened fire. IEA spokesman Bilal Karimi said Pakistani forces had tried to build a post close to the Durand Line and when approached by IEA officials, Pakistan opened …

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said Wednesday there was no truth in Pakistan’s claims earlier in the day that Masood Azhar the leader of Pakistan’s Jaish-e-Mohammed group had taken refuge in Afghanistan. “We would like to point out that the Islamic Emirate does not allow any armed opposition of …

Washington is to set up a new fund that could eventually serve as a mechanism to free up Afghanistan’s frozen assets in order to promote economic stability in the country, senior US officials told CNN. According to the officials, the Biden administration has worked with Switzerland and Afghan economists to …