China’s role in Afghanistan is gradually evolving towards more engagement in various areas. This increasing engagement reflects both China’s concerns about the deterioration of security in Afghanistan since large numbers of international security forces withdrew from the country in 2014, and its interest in benefiting from a reconstructed Afghanistan. Read Here – China Policy Institute
The gridlocked TPP trade deal. Reclaimed islands in the South China Sea. North Korean nukes. How will history judge President Obama’s rebalance to Asia? Read Here – Foreign Policy
Hambantota isn’t just a place in Sri Lanka, it’s a symbol. What started out as a gargantuan project to transform an undeveloped swath of Sri Lankan jungle into the country’s number two city — an industrial and logistical epicenter in the heart of the Indian Ocean — turned into a metaphor for opaque government dealings, poor […]
At the heart of India’s reluctance to embrace Beijing’s promise of road building and connectivity is strategic mistrust. The country is wedged between two nuclear-armed neighbours and has fought wars against both in the last 60 years. The historical baggage of the 1962 war still looms large in India’s imagination. During the brief war, Beijing […]
China’s leaders have been accused of delivering a calculated diplomatic snub to Barack Obama after the US president was not provided with a staircase to leave his plane during his chaotic arrival in Hangzhou before the start of the G20. Read Here – The Guardian
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been methodically purging his closest and longest-serving advisers. The latest – but surely not the last – victim is Sergei Ivanov, a former KGB operative (like Putin himself) and defense minister who has just been forced out as Kremlin chief of staff. Read Here -Project Syndicate
Pointed words over China’s steel overproduction crystallized a challenge for world leaders gathered to come up with an effective plan to reignite world growth. Read Here – The Wall Street Journal
Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman is representing his father at the Group of 20 summit in China on Sept. 4-5, another indication of the 31-year-old son’s pivotal role in the kingdom. “Mr. Everything,” as he is now called, is King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud’s most trusted adviser and most critical […]
Susan Rice is the latest national security adviser to inherit the framework of Sino-American relations that was created in 1972 by Henry Kissinger: The Chinese ever since have wanted to deal directly and discreetly with the White House as they pursue a relationship that’s somewhere between cooperation and confrontation. Read Here – Wall Street Journal
As close as India is ready to come to the United States, New Delhi does not desire a military alliance that would tie it to U.S. decision-making and military activities around the world. Read Here – Defense One
looking beyond borders 