South East Asia

Recently, the central government of China has issued a new policy on the “Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Accelerating the Construction of a Large Unified National Market (hereafter referred to as ‘Opinions’)”. The Opinions propose to speed up the …

Russia has a nuclear doctrine known as “escalate to deescalate” or, more accurately, “escalate to win,” which contemplates threatening or using nuclear weapons early in a conventional conflict. It cannot be a good sign that Russia, China, and North Korea at the same time are threatening to launch the world’s …

This imaginary memo reviews the Russia–Ukraine war at its current stage through the eyes of an advisor to the General Secretary. From: OFFICE OF THE CENTRAL COMMISSION FOR MILITARY-CIVIL FUSION DEVELOPMENT, BEIJING Subject: THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION’S SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE Chairman and General Secretary, The war in Ukraine is …

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan paved the way for the Islamist group to regain a safe haven This week marks 11 years since the death of Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of al-Qaida. On May 1, 2011, US President Barack Obama announced his death, slain during a US …

Why the War Necessitates a Balancing Act Russia’s war in Ukraine has produced a strategic predicament for China. On the one hand, the conflict has disrupted billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese trade, heightened tensions in East Asia, and deepened political polarization within China by dividing people into pro- and …

Since about 2018, Chinese officials have been talking about the moon and Mars as sovereign Chinese territory, part of the People’s Republic of China. This means that China considers those heavenly bodies to be like the South China Sea. This also means that China will exclude other nations from going …

When US Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III declared that Washington wanted to see Russia so “weakened” that it would no longer be able to invade a neighbouring state, he lifted the veil on US goals in Ukraine. He also held out the prospect of a long-term US-Russian contest for …

China processed record amounts of crude oil in 2021 to meet rising domestic consumption of petroleum products. In the second half of the year, China processed slightly less crude oil and began exporting significantly less gasoline and diesel than in the first half of the year to ensure sufficient domestic …

Grave political implications await China in South Asia and in Indo Pacific as in April 2022, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, two of China’s most notable client States in South Asia, are in a state of economic meltdown, with the ‘Kiss of Economic Death’ implanted by China’s ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy. China’s …

China has become a strategic partner for many countries in the Middle East. China’s role has expanded greatly with Chinese President Xi Jinping‘s announcement in 2013 of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is the cornerstone of the modern Chinese strategy. Egypt became the first Arab country to recognize the …