In late October 2025, the US quietly paid its overdue fees to the World Trade Organization. The payment indicates a shift in the administration’s attitude to the WTO, which it had blamed for allowing ...

In light of the successful first-ever US-Japan-Philippines trilateral summit and joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea involving the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines in ...

Indonesia is becoming a wealthy nation, but still has an enormous number of very poor people, who are not doing well. This is why Indonesia now likes to see itself as an emerging aid donor rather than ...

Recent US boardings of oil tankers linked to Venezuela have prompted claims of piracy and illegality under international law. In reality, many of these boardings rest on a sound legal basis. Boarding ...

Anyone with more than a passing interest in China and its economic rivalry with America will have read Dan Wang’s Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future, seen his newsletter, or absorbed one ...

Dr Abdul Rahman Yaacob was a Research Fellow in the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute. His research interests include Southeast Asia’s defence and security issues and the region’s relations ...

After a spree of military exercises to protest US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, China has released a white paper to “reiterate” its stance on Taiwan in the “new era”. The document is ...

The theme of this year’s Helsinki Security Forum was Towards a Total Defence of Europe. Drawn from Finland’s own doctrine of defence – which the president, Alexander Stubb, corrected to “comprehensive ...

Last month, the Indonesian government approved natural gas exploration in the Tuna gas bloc, part of the largest untapped natural gas deposit in the world. The development of the bloc could not have ...

China is currently undertaking the largest military expansion in its modern history. According to a recent US Intelligence Community assessment, Beijing’s objective is to become the “preeminent power ...

Russia is bleeding on the battlefield. Ukrainian drones are not only destroying weapons and equipment but also draining the Kremlin’s finances. At home, ordinary Russians are reliving the final days ...

Over the past year, China’s President Xi Jinping has undertaken two waves of purges of high-ranking military leaders from the People’s Liberation Army. The first wave targeted the PLA Rocket Force, ...