The return of Donald Trump as U.S. president marks an important crossroads in the future of two emergent Indo-Pacific security frameworks: the Quad, comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the United States; and AUKUS, the trilateral partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Both institutions played a keyContinue Reading
Fuji TV, one of Japan’s five major commercial television networks, has been rocked by a slew of scandal–led executive resignations, advertiser exits, and public backlash. Fuji TV is accused of mishandling a scandal involving former member of iconic boy band SMAP, Masahiro Nakai, and an unnamed woman in her 20s,Continue Reading
The rapid ascent of DeepSeek proved again that the only reliable constant in the world of AI development is that it is fast and unpredictable. When it became clear that the performance claims of China’s low-cost DeepSeek-R1 reasoning model were actually able to compete in at least some benchmarks withContinue Reading
Recent statements by U.S. President Donald Trump and Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver Carone, as well as the trip by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Central America, have focused attention on the risks posed by the activities of China in Panama. Two points should be made clearContinue Reading
On February 1, U.S. President Donald Trump took a step toward implementing a campaign promise by signing an executive order to levy tariffs on the United States’ three largest trading partners: Canada, Mexico, and China. China was the only one of the three unable to delay or avoid implementation ofContinue Reading
On February 1, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his government would be instituting tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico for allegedly withholding cooperation needed to stop “fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.” The tariffs were set to take effect at midnight on February 4. The governmentsContinue Reading
North Korea finds itself in the grip of a severe economic crisis marked by a dramatic currency devaluation and soaring prices, with foreign exchange rates and domestic prices more than doubling compared to the previous year. The government’s response has centered on intensifying state control, particularly through measures like state-runContinue Reading
One of the major television events in China each year is the China Central Television (CCTV) Spring Festival Gala on Lunar New Year. Running for up to 5 hours, the Gala is a grandiose affair featuring all kinds of musical, dancing, comedic, and dramatic performances. The event, which according toContinue Reading
A commercial port near Shanghai recently welcomed two Iranian vessels tasked with picking up over 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate – a key precursor for the production of solid fuel ballistic missiles. While it seems clear that Iran will use this sodium perchlorate to build ballistic missiles, who these missilesContinue Reading
In January 2025, amid escalating tensions with the United States, China announced a series of punitive measures targeting American companies. On January 2, ten U.S. companies were added to China’s Unreliable Entities List, followed by seven more on January 14 and an additional four shortly thereafter. As with previous sanctions,Continue Reading
