In the three years since the coup in Myanmar, the country’s northern border with China has become an economic and strategic challenge to Beijing’s interests, while India is faced with the biggest humanitarian and security crisis, with refugees entering India posing an immediate security challenge.
Security
Economy
Despite China’s efforts to make genetically modified organisms (GMO) technology a key plank of China’s food security, China has yet to meaningfully translate its research efforts into successful commercialisation, say academics Shaleen Khanal and Zhang Hongzhou. If China manages to overcome the various obstacles to commercialising GM crops, the global landscape of GMO governance, production and exports will be greatly changed.
Politics
Given the US’s firm stance on safeguarding national security, in particular against China, the research and development sector is among the few that have been deeply impacted. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Hai Kexian speaks with academics to find out the severity of this decoupling in research collaboration.
Politics
Mohamed Muizzu, the newly elected president of the Maldives, seems to be pivoting away from India and moving closer to other sources of support, such as the Arab countries and China. With a wary eye on China's ambitions in the Indian Ocean, India is expected to push back strongly.
Politics
Chinese academic Xiang Lanxin believes that over the past few years, not only have the relationships between the major powers deteriorated, but these powers are also becoming weaker in different ways. How will such changes impact the world and the powers?
Politics
Academic Chen Gang notes that China’s appointment of its first defence minister with a naval background highlights the priority it has set for its military development. Given the US’s aggressive Indo-Pacific maritime strategy, China is responding in kind, leading to "grey rhino" that could spark a war.
Politics
Seven ASEAN member states have signed on to China’s “community of shared future” more for mutually beneficial cooperation than because they subscribe fully to the Chinese vision of a new regional order. The remaining three may prefer practical cooperation rather than to be enmeshed in China’s grand strategy and discourse.
Society
Peking University professor Li Zhi recently made the news for getting chased down by campus security after refusing to submit to facial scans and going over the turnstiles at the university. Lianhe Zaobao’s China Desk looks into the professor’s call to break down the walls — literal and figurative — around academic grounds.
Politics
Despite an amicable summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in San Francisco recently, the essence of the US-China conflict of interest does not change, says US academic Robert Ross. This means that the outlook for US-China relations in the new year remains paved with difficulties, as both powers continue to joust in a battle to win.