South East Asia

Russian Foreign Policy Commentator Yusin: Mass Demonstrations In China May Force Beijing To Reduce Support For Russia

In the early days of the Covid pandemic, pro-Kremlin commentators praised China’s successful Zero-Covid policy as proof of the superiority of authoritarian regimes in protecting their citizens. China’s recent difficulties with this policy as exemplified by the harsh lockdowns and the mass protests that they have sparked, has not produced a reassessment of the original viewpoint. The earlier triumphalism had vanished, once Russia itself experienced difficulties in coping with the pandemic.

Xi of Arabia and the petroyuan drive

Xi Jinping has made an offer difficult for the Arabian Peninsula to ignore: China will be guaranteed buyers of your oil and gas, but we will pay in yuan.

It would be so tempting to qualify Chinese President Xi Jinping landing in Riyadh a week ago, welcomed with royal pomp and circumstance, as Xi of Arabia proclaiming the dawn of the petroyuan era.

Chinese leader urges GCC nations to adopt yuan, Shanghai exchange for oil and gas trade

Xi Jinping called China and Gulf nations ‘natural partners’ and urged regional leaders to be partners in promoting unity, development, and security

China’s president Xi Jinping urged Gulf nations to use the Shanghai Petroleum and National Gas Exchange as a platform to receive payments of oil and gas using the Chinese yuan instead of the US dollar during a historic summit with the heads of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states on 9 December.

The Saudi-Iran rivalry stumbles into Pakistan

Riyadh’s interest in Pakistan’s Gwadar port is of particular concern for Tehran and its vital oil trade with China.

A $10 billion Saudi Aramco refinery is being built near the port city of Gwadar in Pakistan, about 169 kilometers (km) east of Iran’s Chabahar port in the western Sistan and Balochistan province.

Xi Jinping’s Visit to Saudi Arabia and the overthrow of Atlanticism

The historic China-Arab Summit currently underway in Riyadh symbolizes the emerging Eurasianism in the Persian Gulf.

As Atlanticists continue their commitment to a future shaped by energy scarcity, food scarcity, and war with their nuclear-capable neighbors, most states in the Persian Gulf that have long been trusted allies of the west have quickly come to realize that their interests are best assured by cooperating with Eurasian states like China and Russia who don’t think in those zero-sum terms.

China-Africa Relations In Review – Analysis

“China did this,” “the Chinese did that.” There is an essentialization of China and Chinese actors that hinders our understanding of China-Africa relations – whether to praise or demonize them – as it lumps a multiplicity of approaches, as well as actors, into a fantasized strategy. Hence, the need to use the plural to talk about these Chinese presences in Africa.

Geopolitics Goes Into Orbit With The US And China’s Space Ambitions – Analysis

Space stations are the harbinger of a deepening bipolarity in the international relations of space. The United States leads the International Space Station (ISS), and will lead whatever comes after it, but it is no longer seen as the uncontested unipolar power in space. China now also has a national space station, named Tiangong, which represents a momentous achievement for the country’s space program.

Using Religion To Build A Nation – Analysis

Secular countries in the developing world are using religion to knit their constituent peoples into a nation. Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar are recent examples. Why is this so?

While developed countries in the West have knit their diverse peoples into a nation on the basis of “citizenship” and not ethnicity or religion, in many parts of the developing world, countries are increasingly using religion and/or ethnicity to knit their constituent peoples into a nation.