Beijing may continue to tighten the screw in some sectors while signalling openness to negotiation in others - a two-pronged approach of punishment alongside the offer of resolution - or as it is oftentimes labelled in the West, carrot and stick.
The $23bn sale of CK Hutchison’s global port assets, including key terminals at both ends of the Panama Canal, has shifted as China’s state-owned COSCO emerges as a potential investor, altering the deal’s geopolitical balance.
From South and Southeast Asia to Central and East Asia, communities have been grappling with flash floods, landslides and glacial lake outbursts as warming temperatures and shifting monsoon dynamics fuel increasingly erratic weather.
Russia and China are taking concrete steps to reduce Western influence over global gold markets, signalling a broader move towards monetary self-reliance and the redomiciliation of gold reserves away from traditional Western centres.
CK Hutchison’s $22.8bn ports sale faces delays, with the BlackRock-led consortium talks likely to extend past the July 27 deadline, as the deal draws scrutiny over Panama assets amid rising US-China tensions.
The current flare-up between Thailand and Cambodia feels different from previous disputes. What initially appeared to be a limited skirmish over disputed borderland and nationalist rhetoric now carries the faint, unmistakable whiff of escalation.
During the past decade Japan has quietly but steadily modernised its defence apparatus. While Tokyo avoids the loud rhetoric of some of its neighbours, its actions speak volumes.
A system built so tightly around a cult centered on one man, however powerful, invites uncertainty once that man disappears. It also invites opportunity...
There have already been rumblings in Taiwan that self destruction of key infrastructure would be preferential to Chinese takeover.