Category: Asia

China’s ‘next ideological front’: democracies need joint strategies to counter Beijing’s sharp power

     

US Republican senator Marco Rubio has called on Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump to work together to develop joint strategies to counter China’s growing political interference, The Australian reports: Senator… Read more »

West must address vulnerabilities to China’s authoritarian influencing

     

China’s rapidly increasing political influencing efforts and the self-confident promotion of its authoritarian ideals present a fundamental challenge to western democracies, analysts Thorsten Benner and Kristin Shi-Kupfer write for The… Read more »

Tibet ‘From All Angles’

     

Tibet remains one of the most sensitive issues in U.S.-China relations, according to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China: Inside Tibet and Tibetan autonomous areas, Chinese officials have increased restrictions on… Read more »

‘Dark clouds’ of extremism threaten Indonesia’s democracy

     

The United Nations’ human rights chief has warned of the “dark clouds” of political extremism and intolerance that are building over Indonesia. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has highlighted the blasphemy laws… Read more »

Vatican ‘capitulates’ to China – a sign of Beijing’s growing sharp power?

     

China and the Vatican will establish formal diplomatic relations sooner or later because Pope Francis has the “wisdom” to resolve problems between the two sides, a state-run Chinese newspaper said… Read more »

Authoritarian Advance: Responding to China’s Growing Political Influence

     

Two new studies suggest that Europe’s embrace of China, even as it warns against Russian meddling, might benefit from a certain degree of wariness. When it comes to Beijing, they argue,… Read more »

China’s sharp power makes democracies ‘look like strategic amateurs’

     

Has China’s sharp power offensive left the West’s democracies looking ‘like strategic amateurs’? An opinion piece by Chinese media outlet Caixin Global is touting the idea of “globalism with Chinese… Read more »

How India can help reverse global retreat of democracy

     

  India has traditionally been reluctant to engage in democracy promotion, notes James Crabtree, an associate professor of practice at the National University of Singapore and author of “The Billionaire… Read more »