South East Asia

China rebukes Navy operation in South China Sea as US strike group enters area

The U.S. Navy “seriously violated China’s sovereignty” on Wednesday by sending a destroyer past the Paracel Islands, a disputed chain in the South China Sea, according to the Chinese military command for the area. The USS Benfold steamed past the Paracels, 200 miles off China’s southern coast, on a freedom-of-navigation …

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The War in Ukraine Is Testing China’s New Partnership With Russia

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to draw outrage and reprisals from the international community, China is maintaining the cautious distance from Moscow it has taken since the onset of the crisis, with many observers suggesting that Beijing may have been caught unaware by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to …

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US Pledges Not to Start a Cold War Against China at G20 Meeting

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held “substantive and constructive” talks on Beijing-Washington relations and major international and regional issues of common interest, on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

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Elective Affinities: Iran, India and China’s Responses to the Ukraine War

Iran, India and China have found themselves dragged into the crisis in Ukraine, as their wagons remain hitched to the invading power for complicated reasons. 'Sooner or later Russia will be back, and we do not know what kind of Russia that will be. It may fall subject to some …

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The US No Match for China’s Advanced Use of Energetic Materials in Missiles

The US military could potentially be at a tactical disadvantage should a conflict arise in the South China Sea over Taiwan. This is what National Defense magazine noted regarding the edge of China in terms of developing energetic materials commonly used in pyrotechnics, propellants, and explosives. The article revealed the …

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Xi Sees the Ukraine War Through the Lens of the U.S.-China Rivalry

Not long after the commencement of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I wrote that for China, binding itself tightly to Moscow would do harm to Beijing’s long-term interests. That is because, I wrote, an alliance between a superpower like China and a far less dynamic country like Russia, whose economy is …

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China Just Raised Its Diplomatic Ambitions in Africa

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi completed a tour of Eritrea, Kenya and Comoros, continuing a tradition dating back three decades by which Chinese foreign ministers open the diplomatic year with a trip to Africa. The visit—which comes just over a month after the conclusion of the eighth Forum …

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Pakistan arrest militant suspect in deadly bombing of Chinese nationals

Pakistan on Tuesday said it had arrested a militant who provided technical support for a deadly suicide bomb attack on Chinese teachers at Karachi University in April. A suspected female suicide bomber killed three Chinese teachers, drawing strong condemnation from Beijing, in the first major attack this year against nationals …

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The United States Contests the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative with a Private Corporation

At the G7 Summit in Germany, on June 26, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden made a pledge to raise $200 billion within the United States for global infrastructure spending. It was made clear that this new G7 project—the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII)—was intended to counter the Chinese …

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