China’s State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu shared with a world audience what can be considered as the country’s definitive Taiwan policy position going forward. Speaking at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on 5 June he emphasised that the “one-China principle has become the consensus of the international community and the basic norm governing international relations” […]

China’s defense minister said at a major regional security forum on Sunday that Beijing seeks dialogue over confrontation, hours after a Chinese warship was accused of nearly hitting a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait. General Li Shangfu said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that China’s leader Xi Jinping proposed a set of so-called Global Security Initiatives (GSI) which […]

Clashes erupted over the border between Afghanistan and Iran over the weekend, leading to a Taliban official threatening to conquer Iran amid increased tensions and an ongoing water dispute. Videos and pictures circulating on social media have shown Afghanistan’s Taliban forces and Iranian border forces firing at each other near a border post, killing at least one Taliban officer and […]

Analysis of Beijing’s relationship with Moscow tends to focus on official statements and diplomatic behaviour. But what do Chinese experts have to say about the matter? And how might they be advising their government? The dynamics of Beijing’s relationship with Moscow remain as opaque as the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party. As a result, we rely on body-language […]

As the rivalry between these nuclear powers heats up, long-standing border tensions risk a dangerous escalation. The December 2022 clash between Chinese and Indian troops along the two countries’ 2,100-mile-long contested border — known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — highlights a worrying “one step forward, two steps back” trend. This brawl was the worst since 2020, when […]

An ongoing power struggle for the position of ambassador at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi underlines India’s diplomatic quandary about the nature of its engagement with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not issued any public statement regarding the dispute between representatives of the previous Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban’s Islamic […]

“The world is not just Europe and America,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson declared on April 10, 2023, implicitly echoing the views championed for years by the senior leadership of the Islamic Republic regarding the ostensible rise of China and Russia. Indeed, the moment when Iran shifted from a traditional balancing relationship between East and West to decisively embrace Russia and […]

Security issues are complicating Iran’s relations with Pakistan, and there has also been violence on the Iran-Afghanistan border recently. There was another deadly attack on Iran’s border with Pakistan on Thursday, further complicating both countries’ efforts to improve relations. The Pakistani military said unspecified “terrorists” attacked security forces in the Kech district in southwestern Baluchistan province, near the border with […]

Populism, driven by religious sentiments has been the centerpiece of cult politics in Pakistan. Pakistan came into being on the premise of Two-Nation Theory that clearly stipulated that Muslims were a nation separate and distinct from the rest of the world and that the purpose of Pakistan was to help Muslims live their lives in an Islamic way. This Islamic […]

Pakistan has been facing crisis over crisis in socioeconomic, political, and institutional fields. The pertinent reasons for these crises have been dearth of leadership from state to party and organizational and institutional levels. Every head of the private and public sector organizations including leadership on national level cannot be spared from their respective responsibilities. This dilemma has led the country […]