Politics
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Plugging Timor-Leste Into ASEAN: Could China Power the Region’s Next Great Integration?
Timor-Leste’s entry into ASEAN exposes a structural weakness in the region’s energy integration. The ASEAN Power Grid promises resilience through connectivity but remains vulnerable if new and weaker members stay outside its core infrastructure. With Timor-Leste reliant on costly diesel and lacking interconnections, external support is unavoidable. China’s deep experience…
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Cargo Cult Capitalism: Why Indonesia’s New Sovereign Wealth Fund Won’t Fix the 5% Growth Trap
Guest Article by Nisa Fathia Rahma Indonesia’s struggle to escape its 5% growth ceiling reflects deep institutional constraints rather than a temporary slowdown. While the government has turned to the Danantara sovereign wealth fund to drive development, without regulatory certainty, meritocratic governance, and rule of law, state-directed capital risks reinforcing…
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Malaysia — The Missing Piece in US Indo-Pacific Strategy
Malaysia’s growing tilt toward non-Western partners reflects less a natural alignment with China than the cumulative effects of American neglect, protectionism, and transactional diplomacy. Despite deep security cooperation, shared interests in the South China Sea, and critical economic interdependence, especially in semiconductors, US policy has weakened a partnership that is…
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China’s Crackdown and Myanmar’s Scam Hubs: Inside the Rise and Fall of a Borderland Crime Economy
For years, Myanmar’s borderlands functioned as a shadow economy where cyber fraud, human trafficking, and political power quietly converged. Scam hubs like Laukkaing and Shwe Kokko did not arise from state collapse alone—they were actively enabled by protection deals with militias, tolerance from military elites, and alignment with China’s regional…
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Reimagining the Maritime Silk Road: Sustainable Blue Economy as the Next Frontier of China–ASEAN Cooperation
The revival of the Maritime Silk Road through a sustainable blue economy presents both a strategic opportunity and a governance challenge for China and ASEAN. With fisheries collapsing, climate pressures intensifying, and marine industries expanding into trillion-dollar scales, both sides increasingly recognise that fragmented national efforts are no longer viable.…
Sino-Southeast Initiative 