China
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Beyond Electric: China’s Strategic Pivot to Autonomous Driving Technology
China stands at the forefront of autonomous vehicle innovation, propelled by fierce market competition and supportive regulations that encourage rapid technological advancement. As electric vehicles (EVs) have become ubiquitous in cities like Guangzhou, Chinese automakers are now pivoting toward autonomous driving technology as their primary competitive differentiator, potentially transforming not…
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20th Century Regional Security: A Look Back at Post-War Vietnamese Nationalism and Southeast Asia
As we return to regional politics and relations focused on ideas of isolationism, regional rivalry and geopolitical control, nationalism is once again becoming a dominant trend of international politics across many regions and political ideas. In an attempt to understand how truly underlying such ideas of nationalism are on regional…
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The National People’s Congress Opens: Is Meeting Market Expectations Enough to Shore Up Chinese Growth?
The 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s national annual legislature meeting, opened its third session on the morning of March 5th. Attended by political elites and local representatives alike, this year’s NPC is under unusual scrutiny in anticipation of economic relief signals from the central government. Chinese Premier Li Qiang…
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The China-Thailand Crackdown on Myanmar’s Scam Hubs: A Long-Overdue Reckoning or Another Short-Lived Fix?
The sprawling networks of scam operations in Myanmar’s border regions, particularly in Shwe Kokko and Myawaddy, have long been an open secret. These illicit compounds, operated primarily by Chinese criminal syndicates, have trafficked tens of thousands of individuals, coercing them into fraudulent online schemes that have siphoned billions of dollars…
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The US Aid Freeze: A Strategic Blunder That Strengthens China’s Hand in Southeast Asia
On January 20th 2025, President Trump signed an executive order initiating a 90-day suspension of US foreign development assistance programs to reassess their alignment with American interests. This was soon after accompanied by the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the government agency responsible for foreign…
Sino-Southeast Initiative 