China
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
The Quiet Keystone: How Kyrgyzstan Forms the Core of Europe-Asia Connectivity
It is very rare that one hears about the importance of Kyrgyzstan to the vast world outside the Central Asian region. This country, much...
China
China hosts Trump: High scores on ceremony but modest deliverables
No one should be surprised that U.S. President Donald Trump’s China visit on May 13-15 had a heavy focus on ceremony and symbolic messaging,...
Sanctions and related policies
U.S. powers up Iran sanctions programs
The U.S. Treasury Department, under its new program called “Economic Fury,” announced in rapid succession five sets of fresh Iran sanctions beginning on April...
Global Energy Supplies
Hormuz shutdown deepens energy crisis in Asia
The Iran War and the near closure of the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting global oil and gas supplies, creating a major energy shock...
Freedom of Navigation
Intensive diplomacy focused on reopening Strait of Hormuz
Over the past week (March 30 - April 6) intensive diplomacy centered on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed in retaliation for...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Turkmenistan is finally in the right place at the right time
Turkmenistan has for decades talked about making much greater use of its vast gas reserves to both expand export volumes and to diversify its...
Minerals, Mining and Rare Earths
U.S. moves to counter Chinese dominance in critical minerals
The United States hosted the first-ever Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington on February 4, bringing together ministers and senior officials...
Sanctions and related policies
DPRK cybercrime and illicit IT workers targeted by new U.S. sanctions
North Korean (DPRK) state-linked cyber actors have stolen and laundered billions of dollars (primarily cryptocurrency) using a global ecosystem of hackers, shell companies, front...
Sanctions and related policies
After the “snapback,” large new set of U.S. Iran sanctions announced
Less than two weeks after the reimposition of United Nations “snapback” sanctions on Iran on September 27, the U.S. Government announced a substantial new...
Espionage
MI6 launches new dark web portal as UK targets agents in Russia, Iran, China
The Secret Intelligence Service of the United Kingdom, commonly known as MI6, launched on September 19 a new dark web portal to recruit operatives...
Interviews
AI can push a “democratization“ in film production
During this year’s Venice Film Festival, NE Global sat down with Chen Zhuo, CEO and Founder of Singapore-based company FizzDragon.
The pioneering Artificial Intelligence Generated...
China
Symbolic optics from China or movement toward a new global order?
With the UN General Assembly in New York less than a month away, China’s leadership was able to grab global attention for many days...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Central Asia: An Aladdin’s Cave of Critical Minerals
For most of the three decades since independence, the Central Asian “stans” and the countries in the Caucasus attracted little attention from western governments....
Trade
Terrific or Terrible Tariffs with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice
There is a very good chance that most of you will have seen the Walt Disney’s animation film Fantasia, which came out in 1940,...
Global Energy Supplies
U.S.-China tariff struggle, Iran issue affect energy demand, oil prices
International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said on April 23 oil prices may decline further this year due to slow demand growth...
Economy & Business
Doom, gloom or boom?
While it is an almost painful daily task to ascertain where the Trump administration is positioned on the question of tariff policy, and traders...
Sanctions and related policies
Ahead of nuclear talks, Trump administration orders new sanctions on Iran’s shadow fleet and Chinese refiners
Washington’s sanctions campaign of “maximum pressure on Iran” is intensifying, despite the start of initial discussions between the U.S. and Iran over nuclear issues...
Defense & Security
G7 condemns China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan
In a statement issued on April 6, 2025, the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
Democracy & Human Rights
U.S. sanctions officials for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy
The United States has imposed new sanctions on six Hong Kong and Chinese officials to punish China for the ongoing crackdown on democracy advocates...
Sanctions and related policies
Ignoring Russia, latest Trump administration Iran sanctions increase pressure on an old enemy
On March 13, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned (“designated” in OFAC language) Iran’s Minister of Petroleum, Mohsen...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Tajikistan: The Battle for Middle Earth’s Resources
Tajikistan is a small land-locked country tucked away in southeast Central Asia. Its capital, Dushanbe, is almost equally distant, at approximately 4,500 kilometers, from...
Sanctions and related policies
Trump administration unleashes first sanctions on Iranian shadow fleet
On February 6, the Department of the Treasury unleashed the first wave of the new Trump administration’s economic sanctions using the tried-and-true U.S. Government/Treasury...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
Tariff Trouble in Trump Town
President Trump has had many a cartoon about him as a child throwing toys and anything to hand out of the playpen. Now, of...
Russia Sanctions
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...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
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...
Defense & Security
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...
China
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...
Freedom of Navigation
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...
Op-Eds & Guest Contributors
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...
Defense & Security
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.,...
Energy
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...
International Organizations
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...
The Philippines
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...
China
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...
Russia Sanctions
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...
Democracy & Human Rights
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...
Defense & Security
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...
The Philippines
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...
Defense & Security
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...
ASEAN
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...
Minerals, Mining and Rare Earths
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...
China
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...
China
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...
Analysis
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...
China
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.
China
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...
China
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)...
Analysis
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...
Analysis
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...
Analysis
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...
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