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Are We Becoming Like the Taliban? Chinese Feminists Grapple with Women’s Rights, Afghanistan, and the Moral Policing

This week, a wave of outrage swept across China’s internet, not just over a university scandal, but over something deeper: growing anxiety that China’s society could be slipping toward Taliban-style moral authoritarianism. At the center of the storm was a disciplinary ...

Indonesia Elevates Security Concerns in ASEAN–China Talks

Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono’s recent remarks at the ASEAN–China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur mark a welcome and necessary development in regional diplomacy. Amid long-standing discussions dominated by trade and economic cooperation, his decision to highlight transnational crime and maritime security brings long-overdue attention to issues ...

Brazil’s BRICS Balancing Act Faces a New Test in Rio

The 17th BRICS Summit kicks off this weekend in Rio de Janeiro, but preserving the group’s original mantra of non-alignment is proving to be a challenge for Brazil, the summit’s host. Since returning to power, President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva ...

In China, Ecuador’s Noboa Looks for Breathing Room and Bargains

With a tightening fiscal clock and the weight of geopolitical balancing on his shoulders, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa touched down in China last week with more than just a forum appearance on his agenda. His trip to the 2025 Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin doubled as a ...

China ‘Strongly Condemns’ U.S. Strikes on Iran: Foreign Ministry

China's foreign ministry said on Sunday it "strongly condemns" U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites, adding that they "escalate tensions in the Middle East." "China calls on all parties to the conflict, especially Israel, to cease fire as soon as possible," ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Plugging into African Agency

After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...

Navigating Our Endless Now

Foreign policy writers are in danger of running out of cliches. How often can one reuse the old Lenin line of “weeks where decades happen”? But here we are: in one week, India and Pakistan crept closer to full war, ...

Trump Returns, But His Africa Policy Remains a Question Mark

The cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom in Washington, D.C., but inside the Beltway, there’s little sign of renewal—only a thick fog of uncertainty. After a brief return to D.C., I found a city still reeling from the shock of the Trump administration’s return to power and ...

Is Europe Facing a “Lost Decade” Across the Global South?

By Lukas Fiala With Europe scrambling to adjust to a world in rapid transition, two key events will shape the continent’s ability to sustain competition with China across the Global South. The first was exemplified by Germany’s election last Sunday, which ...

Africa, China, and Trump’s World-Spanning Gamble on Foreign Assistance

The Trump administration’s decision to halt and review U.S. foreign assistance to developing countries instantaneously turned the United States from many countries’ biggest helper into their biggest problem. In the process, he kicked off a massive experiment. The research question ...

Great Power Politics in Trump 2.0: Shifts in the U.S.-India-China Relationships

By Saniya Kulkarni In Trump’s first week as President of the U.S., his administration has already moved ahead on key campaign talking points, including an escalated crackdown on illegal immigration, threats of tariff imposition on allies, and the ...

On First Trip, Rubio to Wield Big Stick in Latin America

By Shaun Tandon Traditionally, when U.S. secretaries of state make their international debuts, they travel to major U.S. allies and offer bromides about working together. Marco Rubio's first trip will be different. He will travel ...

What does Trump 2.0 Offer to Africa?

By Cobus van Staden As the world shifts into gear for the next Trump term, striking new polling results have revealed a split in opinion about the incoming president. An opinion survey of ...
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