A major 2023 policy statement from Beijing gave a stark picture of the multiple dangers facing the world ahead. How broad or sustained will be the Chinese response?
Dominika Remžová analyses two major Chinese investments in Slovakia – Volvo’s EV manufacturing plant in Valaliky and the Gotion InoBat Batteries’ (GIB) venture in Šurany.
At the 2025 SCO summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a “more just and equitable” world order. Yet China’s actions in the South China Sea reveal the paradox of Tianxia—an ancient ideal of harmony that can conceal hierarchy. Tang Meng Kit examines how this Confucian concept is reshaping, and testing, China’s global ambitions.
China is set to launch the Hainan Free Trade Port in December 2025, billing it as a rival to Hong Kong. But five major challenges—in law, finance, taxation, openness, and governance—could limit its ambitions, comments Xiaoyang Zhang.
Hong Kong remains an art-market hub, yet its creative freedoms are being steadily curtailed. As “soft resistance” becomes a political label, artists face hard consequences—and a censorship culture increasingly aligned with the mainland.
Zhou Enlai, Mao’s long-serving premier, was neither pure loyalist nor hidden liberal. He was a pragmatist who kept Mao’s China afloat—balancing ideology with survival through famine, revolution, and Cold War isolation.
From Cannes to Berlin, Chinese-language films have become festival powerhouses. Beyond the red carpet, they expose censorship, inequality and shifting identities while reshaping China’s global image.
Aisya A. Zaharin comments on “Uncle Red” – a viral online sex scandal in China shocked millions, but beneath the headlines lies a deeper story of gender performance, class inequality, digital exploitation, and social isolation.
The CCP’s revival of anti-Japanese war memory serves as more than historical commemoration—it is a strategic instrument for consolidating political legitimacy and managing domestic and international pressures in Xi Jinping’s China, writes Rahul Pandey.
Growing demand for feed grains has increased China’s dependence on international trade and its vulnerability to external economic and political factors, writes Jane Du.
China is reshaping Africa’s media and digital space through tech, state media, and narrative control. Daouda Cissé explores the growing influence.
As Russia’s influence in Central Asia wanes, India and China are stepping into the vacuum. Rahul Karan Reddy explores how institutional design, infrastructure diplomacy, and issue-based cooperation are shaping this emerging contest for influence.
Stefan Messingschlager argues that Europe’s patchwork of national China expertise weakens its collective strategy, creating opportunities for Beijing to exploit internal divisions.
Adrian Kwong comments on the relations between smaller anti-Communist states such as Taiwan and Malaysia having played a role in internationalising repression in Asia during the Cold War.
As Russian influence in Central Asia fades, China’s trade and investment in the region’s energy sector, particularly in Uzbekistan, has risen significantly, writes Lorena Lombardozzi.
