China
How China sees its conflict with the Philippines
Tensions are high again in the South China Sea. While Beijing attempts to tighten its grip on the region with a new ten-dash line, a multi-billion dollar military modernisation…
No neutrality in espionage: Why is Malaysia tangled up in a spying case in Norway?
News reports emerged last week that the Norwegian authorities had recently detained a man identified as a Malaysian citizen in Oslo for alleged espionage. It was confirmed that…
Seychelles: Washington comes calling
The United States has announced it is reopening its embassy in Seychelles. The mission, opened at independence in 1976, was closed as a cost cutting measure in 1996 coincident…
Beijing’s plan for Taiwan challenges its offshore wind push
Military considerations are slowing China’s offshore wind energy deployment. The coastal province of Fujian, just opposite Taiwan, is critical to the Chinese People’s Liberation…
ASEAN, China and the trust deficit
Trust (or the lack of it) seems to be the central theme in describing relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China. Several ASEAN leaders emphasised this…
India pushes China to the margins of the G20
Chairing a forum as unwieldy as the Group of 20 (G20) is not easy at the best of times. The grouping has no headquarters or secretariat. The G20 chair rotates between the members,…
Ahead of G20, India-China reconciliation fails to launch
When it became clear that China’s President Xi Jinping had decided to skip the G20 summit in Delhi this week, it was the final blow to the opportunity that the forum presented to…
Is China finally getting serious about hukou reform?
Across July and August, the province of Zhejiang and China’s central government announced significant changes to the country’s hukou – household registration – system. These…
The Fix: Explaining Indonesia’s silence in the North Natuna Sea
We’re asking contributors to put together their own short collected observations like this one – and as always, if you’ve got an idea to pitch for The Interpreter, drop a line…
China’s troubles may well get worse before they get better
China hoped its economy would rebound quickly after the lifting of its draconian zero-Covid policies late last year. But ten months on, China’s economic recovery is sputtering…