South East Asia

“It’s China, Stupid!”

As the world was focused on the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, the White House published its Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States on February 11.[1] Purportedly, the release of the strategy was meant to coincide with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s travel …

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Chinese FM Spokesperson Hua Chunying On Ukraine, U.S., And Taiwan: U.S. Is The Culprit Behind Ukraine Conflict, Must Not Harm Chinese Interests In Handling The Issue; Taiwan Cannot Be Compared To Ukraine

On February 25, 2022, the Chinese outlet The Global Times uploaded to its YouTube channel a video of statements made by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying regarding the Ukraine conflict, America’s culpability in it, and the issue of Taiwan. In the statements, Hua said that the U.S. is the …

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Biden’s real challenge is not Russia or China, but poverty in America

Mainstream US media continues to celebrate the supposed strength of the US economy. Almost daily, headlines speak of hopeful numbers, sustainable growth, positive trends and constant gains. The reality on the ground, however, tells of something entirely different, which raises the questions: Are Americans being lied to? And for what …

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China is Russia’s best hope to blunt sanctions, but wary

China is the only friend that might help Russia blunt the impact of economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, but President Xi Jinping’s government is giving no sign it might be willing to risk its own access to U.S. and European markets by doing too much. Even if Beijing …

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The Eurasian Nightmare

Chinese-Russian Convergence and the Future of American Order The greatest strategic problem the United States faces is the convergence of its two main rivals, China and Russia—countries that don’t always like or trust each other but nonetheless derive great benefits from their simultaneous assaults on the existing international order. And …

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China Reiterates That Taiwan Is Their Territory, Sends 9 Aircraft To Taiwanese Air Space

While the world looked to Ukraine during its time of crisis amid the Russian invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, his close ally China and Chinese President Xi Jinping has been busy reiterating that Taiwan is part of their sovereign territory after it had previously stated in a UNSC …

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In phone call, China plays a balancing act over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, held a phone call with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday after Russian troops invaded Ukraine and began airstrikes on numerous Ukrainian cities. The call is part of a delicate geopolitical balancing act on China’s part. Beijing has been careful not to explicitly endorse …

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China and Russia are proposing a new authoritarian playbook. MENA leaders are watching closely.

When President Donald Trump lost the 2020 US presidential election to democratic candidate Joe Biden, many leaders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) saw an ominous warning that democracy may again take center stage in US foreign policy, with autocrats trying to consolidate power in their hands. However, …

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Chinese fighter jets sortie into Taiwan’s air zone on heels of Ukraine invasion

Taiwan scrambled fighter jets Thursday in response to nine Chinese aircraft entering its air defense identification zone, the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense said on its website. Chinese aircraft have encroached on Taiwan’s air defense zone with increasing frequency during the past year, but Thursday’s sorties come at a particularly …

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Pakistan’s Taliban Plans

Pakistan’s Taliban movement, led by its most vicious and largest group, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and apparently buoyed by the recent triumph of their ethnic Pashtun cousins in Afghanistan, is revitalizing its strategy either for regional autonomy or to overthrow Pakistan’s government and replace it with an Islamic Emirate of Pakistan …

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