World War I

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

[Photos] The Shandong ‘model’: A trailblazer in China’s history [Eye on Shandong series]

Shandong often played the role of a trailblazer, in more ways than one. The province was a central part of major turning points in Chinese history, and for historical photo collector Hsu Chung-mao, the place holds fond memories of his first books published in mainland China.

Hsu Chung-mao

26 Sep 2025

[Video] ThinkChina Forum 2025: China’s future and navigating a changing world order

At the inaugural ThinkChina Forum on 28 March 2025, Professor Wang Gungwu, University Professor, National University of Singapore, joined Professor Yasheng Huang, Professor of Global Economics and Management, MIT Sloan School of Management, in a panel discussion themed “China’s Future: Navigating a Changing World Order”. Moderated by ThinkChina editor Chow Yian Ping, the discussion covered topics such as China-US rivalry, Trump 2.0 and China’s development. Associate Professor Ngeow Chow Bing from the University of Malaya also offered his thoughts from the satellite event in KL. The following is an edited transcript of the panel discussion and Q&A session.

Chow Yian Ping

04 Apr 2025

Trump’s real goal in Ukraine: A weakened Russia, not peace

As Donald Trump prepares for his second term as US president, one major issue he will have to deal with is the Ukraine war — or will he? Academic Ni Lexiong analyses Trump’s thought processes.

Ni Lexiong

06 Jan 2025

[Photo story] Puyi: The last emperor of China

The tragic life of the last emperor of China has been the subject of much popular culture, not least the movie The Last Emperor. But why was he often thought of as a political puppet and how did he go from emperor to commoner? Historical photo collector Hsu Chung-mao provides a glimpse into the final period of China's imperial rule.

Hsu Chung-mao

10 Jun 2022

Taiwan: Why China-US relations are a zero-sum game

Chinese academic Ni Lexiong says that so long as a country's territorial sovereignty is in conflict with the hegemonic system governing the world, the likelihood of escalation to war is there. That is why despite any of the posturing at the recent Alaska talks, the situation between China and the US remains deadlocked in a zero-sum game.

Ni Lexiong

31 Mar 2021

China-US relations: 'Strategic clarity' on Taiwan may lead to hot war

The three communiques in US-China relations gave both the US and China a certain cloak of strategic ambiguity, but with senior members of the US government appearing to go against the tenets and China stubbornly holding the US to its clauses, what is left seems to be stark, opposing positions that make drifting into hot war all the more likely.

Xiang Lanxin

25 Nov 2020

China is waiting for the American bundle of nerves to calm down

Sun Peisong believes that China actually understands the plot and knows why it is being vilified in American politics. Its strategy is to tough it out, particularly during the US elections season, and wait for the US to come back to the table.

Sun Peisong

10 Sep 2020

A 'failed state'? China must not misjudge the US

Some Americans have begun to regard the US under the Trump administration as a "failed state". While many Chinese worry about Trump's irrationality and unpredictability in playing the "China card", others are slighting the US, believing that now is the opportunity for China to displace the US on the global stage. But is the US a failed state? Political scientist Zheng Yongnian cautions that it may not be so, and China must not only read the US rationally and realistically, it also has to learn to coexist with the US under harsher conditions.

Zheng Yongnian

13 Aug 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the chasms of the world, but can humanity reflect and make progress?

Chinese academic Deng Xize is mostly pessimistic as he traces lessons from history to conclude that international cooperation is only tenable with the combination of well-functioning international institutions and concert among the major powers. In light of further tensions between China and the US arising from the pandemic, he sees little room for cooperation on a global scale, and instead, only greater signs of animosity of the sort seen during the Cold War.

Deng Xize

28 Apr 2020