South East Asia

How did the political crisis escalate? The Pakistani parliament voted no confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan in the early hours of 10 April, in a culmination of tensions that had been building for some time. Khan’s main opponents, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Bilawal …

As the United States, the UK and other NATO powers surge weapons into Ukraine, the NATO alliance is being transformed into a fighting force capable of directly waging wars with Russia and China. Using the war between Russia and Ukraine as a pretext, NATO has already mobilized its 40,000-strong rapid …

Scarcely more than a week ago, Chinese social media and the country’s internet were ablaze with quick takes from both prominent commentators and ordinary folks praising Russian President Vladimir Putin’s armed bid to subdue Ukraine, as well as with fervent celebrations of what many in China saw as a toothless …

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 …