Pakistan

Can the Gulf-South Asia corridor rewire global trade and energy flows?

The Strait of Hormuz crisis has driven alternative routes, strengthening energy supply chains and boosting cooperation across the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia, while expanding cross-border trade — so the outlook is not entirely bleak despite disruption at Hormuz, says Chinese academic Peng Nian.

Peng Nian

Why China’s firepower fails to translate into sales

Is China poised to capture a greater share of the rapidly expanding global arms market? Academic Ghulam Ali looks into China’s arms export policy, the quantity and quality of its previously exported arms, and the challenges associated with expanding arms trade to evaluate this.

Ghulam Ali

China’s quiet brokerage: Can Beijing make the US-Iran truce stick?

After the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war ends, even if there is a negotiated agreement, the war may not be be over. Lasting peace in the region would mean stabilising Israel-Iran relations and letting countries like China play a bigger role. Chinese academic Fan Hongda shares his assessment.

Fan Hongda

The rise of Pakistan in the emerging diplomacy over Iran

​Pakistan, the only Muslim-majority nuclear-armed state, is now a key conduit of the Iran war. Its security ties with Saudi Arabia boost its regional clout, while its links to both the US and China show that in crises, the most important states are not the strongest, but those that other actors can still use.

Hao Nan

Partners at war: Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict tests China’s westward strategy

The recent escalation of the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict upends China’s westward economic expansion. With neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan willing to subordinate their core security objectives to Beijing’s connectivity agenda, will China find itself unable to push forward on its regional strategy? US academic John Calabrese ponders this quandary.

John Calabrese

Shocks to shields: How India fortifies itself against a turbulent world

Hedging comes at a cost, but it is a price India may have to pay as it gets constricted by US transactionalism, two-front security pressure, Pakistan’s strategic rehabilitation and China’s institutional penetration of South Asia. Academic Hao Nan analyses the situation. 

Hao Nan

Can India move beyond faltering US ties?

Amid a US-China detente, India finds itself in a serious pursuit of “multipolarity” in the international system. But this still needs to be underpinned by strong defence relations with the US. Indian analyst Rahul Jaybhay explores the issue.

Rahul Jaybhay

Double-backed power: How the US and China are cementing Pakistan’s military rule

Pakistan’s army is consolidating unprecedented power at home, bolstered by strategic support from both the US and China, as Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir reshapes politics and state authority, argues researcher Rishi Gupta.

Rishi Gupta

Left out of G2: India watches Washington and Beijing

An emerging US-India alliance, invigorated during the Biden administration, now hangs in the balance as Trump tellingly left Delhi out of his Asia tour. Indian researcher Rishi Gupta gives his take on the state of US-India relations.

Rishi Gupta

India courts the Taliban — but has China taken the lead?

Delhi welcomed Afghanistan’s Taliban foreign minister in a high-profile visit, signalling cautious outreach, but China’s early engagement, Belt and Road projects, and strategic timing pose a pressing question: has China already won the race in Kabul? Academic Rishi Gupta explores India’s diplomatic approach and timing.

Rishi Gupta

How Qatar’s strike shattered illusions and ended Gulf complacency

After Israel’s strike in Qatar, the veil has been lifted that the Gulf states and their close alignment with the US would leave them unscathed. In the aftermath, the Gulf states are thinking hard about how to keep the American superstructure, but wire in alternative circuits so no single partner can pull the plug, says academic Hao Nan.

Hao Nan

The new Asian chessboard: Modi navigates China, Japan and a ‘wobbly’ US

By deepening relations with Japan and signalling openness to dialogue with China, India may be saying that equality remains the key strategic goal and it does not like to be pushed, says Indian analyst Rishi Gupta.

Rishi Gupta