China - US

China’s Landward Advance: Can Washington’s Indo-Pacific Strategy Contain Beijing’s Expanding Influence in South Asia?

The great power contest between Washington and Beijing is playing out not just in trade tariffs and technological rivalry — it is increasingly manifesting in steel and concrete, in pipelines and ports, in the tension between sea lanes and land...
Chinese Society

China’s Waning Ascent: How the World’s Second-Largest Economy Is Rewriting Global Power Equations

For more than four decades, China was the world’s great economic miracle — a once-impoverished nation that transformed itself into an industrial and technological giant. Since Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms of 1978, China’s GDP expanded at an average annual rate...
China coast guard, South China Sea

Southeast Asian States Weigh Maritime Forum as Path to Stability Amid South China Sea Tensions

In the five decades since its founding, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has evolved from a Cold War bulwark into one of the world’s most dynamic regional organizations. From its modest beginnings in 1967, ASEAN’s ten member states—Brunei,...
Laos–China Border

Laos–China Connectivity Boost Spurs Tourism–Agriculture Nexus to Strengthen Laos’ Economic Development

When the Laos–China Railway began carrying international passengers in April 2023, few doubted it would alter the country’s development trajectory. Two years later, the 414-kilometer line has become more than just a transport link — it is reshaping Laos’ economy,...
Clean Energy

ASEAN’s Clean Energy Boom Risks Fragmentation Without China–ASEAN Industrial Mechanism

Southeast Asia is entering a clean energy boom. From Indonesia’s nickel smelters to Vietnam’s solar farms and Malaysia’s electric vehicle assembly lines, the region is attracting billions in foreign investment aimed at powering the global shift away from fossil fuels....
China's Trade Slowdown in November Sparks Concerns Amid Imminent U.S. Trade Risks

Trump’s Tariffs Jolt Southeast Asia: A Region Reconsiders Its Future Between Washington and Beijing

Until early April 2025, Southeast Asian capitals seemed almost relaxed about Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Unlike European leaders bracing for another transatlantic breakdown, or East Asian allies fretting about security commitments, governments in ASEAN were relatively sanguine....
U.S.-made NASAMS air defense systems

Taiwan Eyes Expanded NASAMS Shield as China Pressures Mount

Taiwan is considering the purchase of nine additional U.S.-made NASAMS air defense systems, a move that would raise its planned fleet to twelve batteries. The proposal reflects a shift toward layered, networked defenses against a growing mix of Chinese threats...
China Submarine

China’s AI Breakthrough in Undersea Warfare: The End of Submarine Stealth?

For more than half a century, the defining characteristic of submarine warfare has been invisibility. The ability to slip silently into the deep, evade detection, and strike when least expected has turned submarines into the most survivable component of nuclear...
China's J-20 fighter

China’s J-20 Beast Mode: What the PLAAF’s Expanding Stealth Fleet Reveals About Airpower in Asia

On September 9, 2025, an X account titled PLA Military Updates posted a set of photographs that immediately caught the attention of defense analysts worldwide. The images showed the J-20 Mighty Dragon, China’s premier fifth-generation stealth fighter, configured in what the account described...
Afghanistan’s Bagram air base

China and Taliban Push Back Against Trump’s Bid to Reclaim Bagram Air Base

When U.S. President Donald Trump floated the idea of reclaiming Afghanistan’s Bagram air base last week, it instantly reignited debates about America’s fraught military history in the region, the future of U.S.–Taliban relations, and China’s growing role in Central Asia....
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