In terms of geopolitical optics, this week was nothing short of a banquet. It served up at least two sets of images that seem to crystallize our historical moment and that will live on in the Wikipedia of history as shorthand for where the world was in 2025.
One is the waves of uncannily synchronized soldiers and a bewildering array of high-tech weaponry gliding down Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. The ...
Category: Fronteras
Beijing Accuses Manila of Trouble, Warns of Firm Countermeasures
China has accused the Philippines of “causing trouble” in the South China Sea and warned of firm countermeasures. Beijing's accusation sharpens its claim that the United States and allied partners are driving instability as Manila deepens defense cooperation with Australia ...
Indonesia Mulls Joint Patrol with Vietnam in South China Sea
Indonesia said it is weighing the possibility of carrying out coordinated coast-guard patrols with Vietnam in parts of the South China Sea also claimed by China, signaling closer maritime cooperation between the two Southeast Asian neighbors while risking friction with Beijing. ...
China Slams Vietnam Over Island-Building in South China Sea
China condemned Vietnam over a report it had sped up island-building in an area of the disputed South China Sea that Beijing claims as its own. "China firmly opposes the relevant country’s construction activities on islands and reefs they have illegally ...
China Looms as Australian and Philippines Defense Ministers Meet
China’s growing presence in the South China Sea is drawing U.S. allies closer. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles met Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. in Manila on Friday. The two signed a pledge to expand defense cooperation and improve military readiness.
China Blasts Ted Cruz’s Call for Somaliland Recognition as “Coercive” and “Hegemonic”
Powerful conservative U.S. Senator Ted Cruz kicked up a Texas-sized social media storm on Friday when he declared his support for the U.S. government to diplomatically recognize the breakaway nation of Somaliland on the Horn of Africa. Cruz's post generated a huge ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
China’s Top Diplomat Wang to Visit India for Border Talks
China's top diplomat will visit India next week for talks about their shared boundary, Beijing's foreign ministry said on Saturday, as the two countries consider resuming border trade after a five-year halt. Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit India on Delhi's ...
China Tells U.S. to Restrain Forces Near Shoal in South China Sea
China condemned the U.S. after a naval vessel, USS Higgins, sailed near Scarborough Shoal just days after a China–Philippines at-sea pursuit. Beijing is calling the U.S. move an illegal intrusion and warning Washington to “restrain” its forces. The U.S. Navy ...
South China Sea Naval Collision: Beijing and Manila Trade Blame
China has accused the Philippines of “dangerous maneuvers” during a tense encounter near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea earlier this week that, according to Manila, led to a collision between two Chinese government vessels. Beijing has not publicly ...
China Backs Thailand-Cambodia Reconciliation, Eyes Investment
China fully backs Thailand and Cambodia in resolving their longstanding border dispute, offering assistance at the request of both nations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday. Speaking at the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Yunnan province,
How Pandemic Controls Still Shape Trade and Migration in a China–Myanmar Border City
A deeply reported story published on a WeChat public account specializing in literary reporting examines how pandemic-era border control policies in Ruili, once China’s busiest land port with Myanmar, have outlasted COVID-19 and devastated the city’s once-thriving jade trade while restricting the movement of cross-border migrant ...
Philippines Says 3 Chinese Ships Spotted Near Islets Close to Taiwan
Three Chinese coast guard vessels were being monitored in the waters off remote islands in the northern Philippines near Taiwan, maritime officials in Manila said on Friday. The vessels were first spotted on Thursday, a day after a YouTube video appeared ...
China Hosts Informal Thailand-Cambodia Peace Talks in Shanghai
China hosted informal trilateral talks in Shanghai on Wednesday involving Cambodian and Thai representatives, aiming to reinforce the fragile ceasefire agreed upon earlier this week following deadly clashes along their disputed border. The discussions were facilitated by China's Vice-Minister for ...