For over three decades, Beijing has deployed an initially slow but now accelerating campaign to degrade Philippine maritime rights and access in the West Philippine Sea. This long-term effort has been characterized by often seemingly benign actions and… Read more
On June 2, Mexicans elected former Mexico City mayor and governing party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum as their next president. With a compelling electoral mandate, as well as a qualified majority in Congress, Sheinbaum has vowed to continue her… Read more
China has shown a greater interest in Central Asia’s security and stability in recent years, expanding its engagement with countries in the region both bilaterally and as a whole. Bates Gill, senior fellow in Asian security at the National Bureau of… Read more
The recently concluded 2024 Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore provided another useful opportunity for senior U.S. and Chinese national security officials to engage in face-to-face bilateral discussions and interact with officials and experts from other… Read more
Widely expected to cruise to a third-straight majority in India’s parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) instead lost ground and must now rely on its National Democratic Alliance partners, especially the… Read more
Conversations about Myanmar these days tend to unfold predictably. They begin with agreement that the country’s military junta is a vile institution — illegitimate, hated by virtually the entire population, and responsible for widespread suffering and… Read more
In January of this year, Nauru switched recognition from Taiwan to China, reducing the number of Taiwan’s partners from 13 to 12. It did so two days after Taiwan’s presidential elections produced an outcome that was unwelcome in Beijing: four more years… Read more
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China last week for the second time in just over six months. Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have met over 40 times and the two leaders have developed a close personal bond as their countries’ strategic… Read more
Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week made his first trip to the European continent in five years, visiting France, Hungary and Serbia. In Paris, Xi faced tough questions over trade and China’s support for Russia and its war in Ukraine, but met a much… Read more
If the U.S. government wants an edge over China in the Pacific Islands, it needs to facilitate more meetings between the president of the United States and regional leaders, preferably one-on-one. When Pacific Island leaders fly to Beijing, they often… Read more
After a record-breaking 2023, consolidated climate change science clearly shows that the earth’s temperature over the last 12 months was more than to 1.6oC above the pre-industrial average. This makes the most ambitious temperature goal of the Paris… Read more
This past January, deadly riots in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, spilled over into other towns and cities across the nation. As the dust settled, many held the country’s struggling youth population responsible, at least partially, for… Read more