South East Asia

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 …

Italian Premier Mario Draghi secured a deal Monday for more natural gas imports across a Mediterranean pipeline from Algeria, marking the latest push by a European Union nation to reduce dependence on Russian energy following its invasion of Ukraine. After meeting with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Draghi told reporters in the …

Professor Alexei Maslov, one of Russia’s foremost authorities on China, weighs in on the question preoccupying many Russians: when will Beijing come to Russia’s economic rescue? Interviewed by Moskovskiy Komsomolets’ senior correspondent Mikhail Rostovsky, Maslov intersperses the good news with the bad. On the plus side, official China, and Chinese …

US-China relations have grown even more strained recently following America’s diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, the blacklisting of more Chinese firms, and the implementation of a new US law that restricts imports from the Chinese region of Xinjiang, aimed at curbing forced labor abuses there. With the exception of …

It’s the big question keeping the world on edge: How does this end? Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine is a world-historical event, marking the final act of the post-Cold War period and the start of a new era, yet unwritten. The spectrum of possible outcomes ranges …

Someone sure wants regime change in Kazakhstan and Pakistan. Someone sure aims to realign Central Asia from its current Russia-China tilt to a more western-friendly posture. And that someone may be willing to use violence and lawfare to get such results. Who on earth could it be? Answer that question …

Russian ally Serbia took the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation this weekend, amid Western concerns that an arms buildup in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region. Media and military experts said Sunday …

U.S. military forces have not conducted any counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan since withdrawing all troops from the country last summer, but military officials insisted on Tuesday that they have the capability to monitor and neutralize threats there despite logistical challenges. Pressed by lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. …

The meeting comes days after Manila and Washington launched one of their biggest joint military exercises in years. The top diplomats of the Philippines and China met over the weekend in a Chinese district and exchanged views on the South China Sea, Beijing said, amid fresh accusations from Manila over …

Former US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi on Friday (April 1, 2022), Pakistani media outlets reported. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a press release said that the two discussed issues related …