Civilisation

From founding order to utopian drift: How America lost its centre

Tracing the US’s shift from its founding constitutional order to a period of ideological experimentation and internal fragmentation, Chinese commentator Jun Ma examines how competing visions of society have reshaped its political centre.

Jun Ma

25 May 2026

How civilisational politics fuels today’s wars

Academic Ma Haiyun traces the history of civilisational conflict narratives in Western strategic thinking, built on Jewish intellectual foundations, long before the rise of Samuel P. Huntington’s The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Such approaches have had a profound effect on influencing the US’s behaviour in the Middle East and spillover effects in the region.

Ma Haiyun

22 Apr 2026

Fighting cigarettes hits the state’s wallet: Can China crack down on smoking?

Chinese netizens are waging an online war against secondhand smoke, but with tobacco contributing billions to state coffers, can authorities truly crack down on smoking? Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Li Kang looks into the issue.

Li Kang

09 Apr 2026

The West’s moment ends, a multi-civilisational world rises

Two centuries of Western dominance are giving way to a world shaped by multiple civilisations. China, India and others assert distinct models, signalling a future of coexistence, negotiation and multipolar competition. Professor Tan Kong Yam assesses the future world order.

Tan Kong Yam

27 Mar 2026

[Video] George Yeo: America’s deep pain — and why China won’t colonise

George Yeo, in an interview with ThinkChina editor Chow Yian Ping, explores America’s deep social pain, China’s struggle with corruption rooted in Confucian ties, and why change is hard. He also weighs the risk of war in the Taiwan Strait and Singapore’s future in a fast-shifting world order. This is the first episode of ThinkChina Conversations, a series of in-depth interviews with experts on China.

Chow Yian Ping

27 Feb 2026

Israel’s great power playbook is tempting Taiwan’s leaders

Israel has long turned great power rivalry into strategic leverage. Taiwan’s leaders now appear tempted by the same logic. But applying Israel’s playbook in East Asia could distort deterrence — and make Taipei the testing ground for escalation, cautions academic Ma Haiyun.

Ma Haiyun

23 Dec 2025

Trumpism’s racial turn: From civilisation to whiteness

In its second phase, Trumpism has evolved into a racialised political project — a 21st century reinterpretation of Aryanism — redefining American identity not through ideological conflict, as in the Cold War, but through a rigid racial ordering, argues academic Ma Haiyun.

Ma Haiyun

15 Dec 2025

The 25-centimetre gap separating China from a truly civilised society

The recent incident of Taiwanese singer Zheng Zhihua at Shenzhen Airport has brought to light the struggles of disabled people in China. Academic Zhang Tiankan believes that their voices must be heard and more needs to be done to ensure accessibility, only then can China call itself a civilised society.

Zhang Tiankan

17 Nov 2025

How to read the Xi–Trump meeting: It’s not about winning

The Busan meeting wasn’t about who won or lost — it was about whether the world can still count on China and the US to act as responsible powers. Their cooperation, not confrontation, will define the next phase of global governance, says academic Gu Qingyang.

Gu Qingyang

31 Oct 2025

How civilisational divides are threatening the independence of small nations

When scholars, policy makers and resistance groups adopt “civilisational” frames, they inadvertently legitimise a world order where might makes right, and cultural or religious claims override legal norms, observes academic Ma Haiyun.

Ma Haiyun

15 Sep 2025

The clash of civilisations has finally begun?

As the US abandons universal norms, civilisational powers are rising. Ma Haiyun warns this shift risks a new era of global conflict — not between nations, but between entire ways of life, where diplomacy gives way to identity and survival.

Ma Haiyun

10 Sep 2025

China’s unfinished battle: Why Beijing can’t let go of Japan’s past

China’s struggle to move past historical trauma with Japan reveals deeper challenges in perception. Misconceptions must be separated from culture, history from present, emotion from reason, says commentator Wei Da. Time and civilisation demand that former mortal enemies learn to look beyond hatred, rebuild friendship and pursue lasting development. 

Wei Da

03 Sep 2025