It’s an uneasy time for Asian nations as the rivalry between China and the United States intensifies and uncertainty hangs on whether they can resolve their trade war beyond the 90-day truce. In this special series the South China Morning Post explores how the China-US rivalry is affecting four countries in Asia. In the final […]
China has astounded the world with the speed and scale of its creation of artificial islands and military infrastructure in the South China Sea. The first Chinese dredger initiated land reclamation in December 2013. Five years later, China has completed building its manmade islands and is now steadily ramping up its military assets in the […]
SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – The year 2018 saw China enter into a new phase in its militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea – the increased deployment of military vessels and equipment. This is according to Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of the Center for Strategic and International […]
Japan’s prime minister has paved a policy path that challenges China’s grab for power in the Indo-Pacific region. What happens next? If there is a single figure, who has played the greatest role in bringing about the “Indo-Pacific” age, it’s arguably Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. Since his return to power in 2012, he has, […]
The way ahead is to focus on the political economy of complementaries and synergies between India and China The Modi-Xi informal Wuhan Summit of May 2018 has contributed to Sino-India relations both in discourse and practice. However, given the geo-economic depth in relationship that the people of the two countries are seeking, there’s more to […]
US President Donald Trump’s first appointed secretary of defense, James Mattis, has resigned. Despite the president’s claim on Twitter that Mattis was retiring, his resignation letter makes clear that his departure is effectively one borne of long-term ideological disagreements with Trump and his “America first” foreign policy agenda. The proximal cause, while not stated by […]
Beijing has endeavored to obtain new generation weaponry in almost all military areas, investing billions in research and in the production of new models of battleships, missiles, aircraft and submarines. Many of them are arriving for the tests or will even be responsible for next year. Naval power The Army of the People’s Liberation Army […]
Nepal is not part of America’s Indo-Pacific strategy despite the Himalayan nation’s central role in the region, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has said. Gyawali returned to Nepal on Saturday after wrapping up his five-day visit to the US during which he held talks with his American counterpart Mike Pompeo on a range […]
Under the Trump administration, US response to China’s OBOR is more coherent and comprehensive than in the past, expert says WASHINGTON—China’s One Belt, One Road initiative is one of the world’s most ambitious and controversial development programs. Under the Trump administration, the United States is rolling out new infrastructure projects and other initiatives in the […]
It appears the political and security elites in the United States are preparing for an OK Corral-type s howdown with China. On December 1, the US Justice Department asked (some would argue pressured) Canada to arrest Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, on a provisional warrant. It went on to […]