News & Analysis from East Asia

Japan’s accelerating military buildup will inevitably collide with the country’s shrinking and reluctant recruitment base.

Global labor governance is fracturing, leaving manufacturers caught between competing legal systems that, in effect, force them to choose between maintaining access to the Chinese input networks or Western markets.

Administrations from both sides of the aisle have left US critical minerals supply chains highly vulnerable amid a return to great power politics. But stockpiling initiatives like ‘Project Vault’ suggest that Washington is beginning to remember the old truism that economics and geopolitics are inseparable.

The Iran war is opening strategic avenues for China to strengthen its international and domestic position in a disrupted world order.

Examining the evolution of constitutional “One China” framework, which endures because it accommodates contradictions between Beijing and Taipei without forcing either side to concede – managing tensions while never fully resolving them.

Deepening convergence between China and Russia is beginning to resemble a paradigm shift in global order — not yet a formal alliance, but something potentially more consequential: the gradual construction of a Eurasian strategic sphere designed to outlast American primacy.

Obscured by a sea of war-related headlines, China is perfecting its domestic sanction-busting apparatus – not for the Iran war of today, but the Taiwan conflict of tomorrow.

Structural indicators of hegemony like military, institutional, and financial capacity suggest that the US global power is far more likely to decline than collapse outright.

The US congressional consensus on Taiwan still matters. But amid a widening gap between commitment and capability, it matters less than it used to.

Indium is the one critical mineral that remains restricted in the wake of the November 2025 US-China trade deal, throttling global supply of a key input in data centers. This article explores indium’s geopolitical importance and Washington’s slow but steady progress toward supply diversification.

What does victory for Beijing in the US-China AI competition look like? Tighter control for the CCP at home and elevated criminal, military, censorship, and data security risks abroad.

Able Archer 83 showed how a routine Cold War military exercise could escalate toward nuclear confrontation. The US, Japan, and South Korea can learn from it when preparing for a dual contingency in the Indo-Pacific.

Canada is present in the Indo-Pacific, but its engagement lacks the policy and material discipline required to shape outcomes. The costs of this approach will only increase as China consolidates its influence in the region.

Thousands of kilometers from the drone strikes and naval blockades of the Middle East, a quiet deployment of a 352-meter floating barrier in the South China Sea offers a stark illustration of gaps in strategic focus and planning horizon between Beijing and Washington.

Backed by Russian and Chinese support, North Korea is systematically dismantling the global sanctions regime that once inhibited its domestic weapon development.