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Asia & Pacific

Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy

True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global markets with a three-day surge of tariff announcements, border security negotiations and ultimately a 30-day...

Stock Market or Not Market

So, what is a market? Obviously, it is somewhere where you can buy and sell “stuff.” In a successful economy having a market to...

Stringent new energy sector sanctions on Russia announced

On January 10, the U.S. Government released a massive new listing of over 200 entities and individuals involved in Russia’s energy sector for Ukraine-related...

Interview: The spirit of democracy is still alive in the minds of the Korean people

During the Stratcom Summit '24 in Istanbul (mid-December), South Korean Professor Giwoong Jung, based at Seoul's Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, discussed his perspectives...

United States-Japan-Philippines inaugural maritime dialogue focuses on Chinese provocations

The United States, Philippines, and Japan raised “serious concerns” over China’s repeated blocking and continuing harassment of Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea...

Biden administration takes final steps to counter global corruption and human rights abuses

Announcing a global grab-bag of new sanctions, possibly some of its last, the Biden administration took major steps on December 9 by authorizing new...

Allies condemn the DPRK’s deployment of troops to Russia

The G7 countries, the EU as well as Australia, South Korea, and New Zealand on November 6 expressed "grave concern" over the deployment of...

Drone producers in China and Russia face new U.S. sanctions

In recent months, the Biden administration’s sanctions taskmasters at the State and Treasury Departments have clearly gone into overdrive, designating new targets/entities at least...

Interview: Afghanistan military mission veteran lays out Hungarian EU Presidency goals

In 2008-2009, one of Hungary's most successful military missions took place in Bhaglan Province, Afghanistan. That mission was led by Zsolt Sándor, Hungary's current...

China’s “dangerous and escalatory” activities against the Philippines in the South China Sea sparks condemnation from Washington

On August 31, the U.S. Department of State issued a strongly worded statement condemning the latest in a series of dangerous and escalatory actions...

EU must strengthen financial protections for Hong Kong activists

Imagine leaving your homeland to escape tyranny, only to find the oppressive regime you fled can still reach you, manipulating your financial lifelines. This...

NATO Summit: “Trump-proofing” Ukraine support while Biden appearances under a microscope

The July 9-11 NATO Summit was originally envisioned as a celebration of the alliance’s 75th anniversary at the organization’s founding venue in Washington D.C.,...

Russia failing to replace lucrative European gas deliveries with sales to China

Russia’s attempts to build the Power of Siberia 2 (PS-2) natural gas pipeline to China appear to be stalling despite repeated statements from Moscow...

Astana SCO Summit reaffirms its growing geopolitical role

The 24th summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), chaired by Kazakhstan, took place on July 4...

Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the U.S. condemn DPRK-Russia Cooperation

During his June 19-20 visit to Pyongyang, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty...

Manila rejects Beijing’s South China Sea demands as “absurd”

The Philippine Coast Guard accused its Chinese counterpart on June 7 of blocking efforts to evacuate a sick member of its armed forces in...

Xi challenges a divided Europe

After the May 5-9 visit of President Xi Jinping to Europe most of the political analysts in Brussels who argued that the Chinese President's...

Outline for Luzon Economic Corridor takes shape

While most headlines from the Indo-Pacific Business Forum held on May 21 in Taguig, just outside Manila, focused on the latest official data concerning...

New wave of U.S. sanctions target Russia’s foreign suppliers and industrial base

On May 1, the U.S. Department of State together with the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled a wide-ranging new list of anti-Russia sanctions covering an...

G7 Italy 2024 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on Addressing Global Challenges, Fostering Partnerships

The text of the following statement was released by the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the...

Western corporations must be held accountable for their role in China’s Uyghur genocide

In recent testimony before the Senate, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that “the Biden Administration should be sanctioning human rights violations” there and...

New U.S.-Japan-Philippines Pacific bulwark established

The leaders of Japan, the Philippines, and the United States met in Washington April 11 for the first ever trilateral summit with a deep...

U.S. condemns latest PRC actions in South China Sea as dangerous

Coming just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Manila (March 19), Washington released on March 23 a strongly worded statement of...

Myanmar’s instability deepens as the world watches silently

Myanmar’s stability has eroded significantly since the 2021 military coup. But the coordinated attacks by multiple separatist and pro-democracy groups in late 2023 has...

Joint Statement on the Trilateral United States-Japan-Republic of Korea Indo-Pacific Dialogue

The inaugural Trilateral Indo-Pacific Dialogue between the United States Japan and South Korea was held on January 5, with this new format presented as...

Washington strongly supports Manila in latest confrontation with Beijing

After a difficult year in the loosely defined maritime boundary region between China and the Philippines, including vessel collisions and Chinese use of water...

Why China’s new map has stirred regional tensions

In the waning days of summer, closely following a BRICS summit and mere days ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Group...

New DFC commitments to maritime infrastructure projects

The US recently announced two major commitments to funding maritime infrastructure and related commercial projects, one in Sri Lanka and another in Greece through...

IEA warns transitions bring new risks to energy security

Clean technology and critical mineral supply chains are highly geographically concentrated, the International Energy Agency warned in its World Energy Outlook for 2023 and...

Central Asian leaders travel to China to pay homage to Xi’s BRI vision

China’s leader Xi Jinping threw a 10th anniversary bash for the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), his $1-trillion plan to leverage Beijing’s financial resources...

Ethnic violence in India explained

The ethnoreligious violence in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur between Meiteis and Kukis has been ongoing since May, but it was only in July 2023 when a...

How countries prepare for population growth and decline

Early this year, India surpassed China as the most populous country in the world, with the latter having 850,000 fewer people by the end...

US-ASEAN establish a research center in Washington, D.C.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who was in Jakarta for a US-ASEAN Summit on September 6, announced Washington’s decision to establish a joint center with...

Mongolia to expand its economic and trade partnerships

Mongolia, the landlocked mineral-rich country bordered by Russia and China - the world's two preeminent authoritarian-run nations, is looking to expand its economic, trade,...

Cambodia’s Hun Manet is a puppet prime minister; his father will still pull the strings

The handing over of power by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to his son Hun Manet is an attempt to maintain the old regime,...

Can Central Asia escape China’s debt trap?

While Washington focuses on the war in Ukraine, Russia and China seek to expand their influence in regions where the US is not sufficiently...

The global impact two years after the Taliban’s takeover

Two years ago, the world saw the return of a repressive Taliban regime. The rapid fall of the Afghan government sent shockwaves throughout neighbouring...

The Taliban and Islamic State continue to fight for Afghanistan’s future

In April, American officials confirmed that the Taliban had killed the head of the Islamic State (IS) cell operating in Afghanistan. Though his identity has...

Cambodia’s current government is the face of tropical Fascism

There is no hope that the authoritarianism that the world sees in places like Russia, China and Cambodia can ever be interpreted as a peaceful and benign phenomenon, or that it should be accepted by an implicit racist or discriminatory assumption that some cultures just don’t have a democratic tradition and aren’t quite capable of ever developing one.

US & Philippines agree to ramp up defense cooperation

The US and Philippines announced on February 2 a substantial expansion of their existing military cooperation arrangements, increasing the number of facilities that American...

Xi’s China could be more dangerous than Mao ever dreamed

China’s Communist Party, which has undergone a transformation back to its Maoist roots under Xi Jinping, has been caught off guard by the widespread...

Chinese operatives accused of supporting Huawei in the US

Chinese spies were conducting foreign intelligence operations to impede an ongoing investigation involving the technology and communications firm Huawei.

Major Japanese auto companies giving up on Russia

Toyota and Nissan, two major Japanese automakers with substantial manufacturing capacity, pulled out of Russia after both claimed that carrying out any future business...

How China took over the WTO behind the West’s back

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, a result that followed 15 arduous years of negotiations. Many...

What South Korea’s new president means for Japan

On March 9, 2022, South Korean voters elected Yoon Suk-yeol – a former prosecutor turned politician from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP)...

Historical differences will not erode an advantageous 21st-Century Chinese-Russian partnership

The 21st century has seen the forging of “cooperative” relations between China and Russia, with the benefits of this new partnership outweighing the historical differences between...

EU blocks takeover of DSME by Hyundai Heavy Industries

The European Commission has prohibited the acquisition of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) by Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings (HHIH), noting that the merger...

The Korean Peninsula should remain a security concern

With both South Korea and the United States focused on domestic matters – 2022 presidential race and 2022 midterm elections respectively, it will be...

Why China cannot invade Taiwan

China’s recent aerial incursion in Taiwan air defense zone and President Xi Jinping’s confrontational remarks re-prompted a debate on whether or not Beijing is...

EU, South East Asia launch Green Team Europe Initiative to protect the environment

During the 3rd ASEAN-EU Dialogue on Sustainable Development, European Union Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen launched on November 18 a Green Team Europe...

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