Xi Jinping expresses hope China can open ‘new chapter’ in relations with North Korea

By Yuanyue Dang in Beijing Chinese President Xi Jinping has congratulated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after he cemented his leadership at the latest congress of the country’s ruling party. Xi said Kim’s reselection as general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea on Monday reflected the “high trust and wholehearted support” of the country’s […]

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US Intelligence Flags China’s Nuclear Upgrade Plans After Test

U.S. intelligence agencies are raising alarms about an explosive test conducted by China, linking it to a broader effort to accelerate and modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal. In a detailed report for CNN, national security correspondents Zachary Cohen and Kylie Atwood explain how American analysts see the test as part of Beijing’s push toward next‑generation […]

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Why Attacking Iran Could Be Riskier Than Capturing Maduro

Why would a possible military strike on Iran be riskier and far more complicated than the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro? In a new analysis for The New York Times, journalists Abdi Latif Dahir and Samuel Granados argue that Iran’s deep military capabilities, regional proxy networks and strategic position could draw the […]

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K-pop’s big freeze: are cracks in China’s cultural blockade a thaw?

By Alyssa Chen While K-pop has conquered almost every corner of the globe, South Korea’s entertainment industry remains largely locked out of the Chinese market due to a geopolitical chill that has lingered for a decade. China unofficially banned South Korean entertainment products in 2016 after Seoul deployed the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence […]

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Can Pakistan Break the Connectivity Barrier to Central Asia?

In early February, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym Jomart Tokayev conducted the first state visit to Islamabad in 23 years, followed by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Both leaders were awarded Pakistan’s highest civilian honour, the Nishan-e-Pakistan, highlighting the symbolic importance of these engagements. Pakistan’s access to the Indian Ocean has further enhanced its position in Eurasian geoeconomics, […]

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Where is Kim Ju-ae? Succession question hangs over North Korea’s ruling congress

By Park Chan-kyong North Korea’s ruling party congress, convened only once every five years, opened in Pyongyang this weekend with supreme leader Kim Jong-un poised to formalise a military doctrine with far-reaching implications for security on the Korean peninsula and beyond. State media described the opening of the ninth congress of the Workers’ Party of […]

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Southeast Asians unite in digital boycott of South Korea as #SEAbling trends

A wave of online backlash against South Korea is spreading across Southeast Asia, fuelled by a dispute over fan behaviour at a K-pop concert and intensified by controversial comments from public officials, highlighting how quickly digital tensions can take on a regional dimension. Posts accusing Koreans of discrimination have circulated widely on social media in […]

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Is China’s ‘reverse Great Firewall’ quietly blocking global access to official data?

By Meredith Chen For overseas researchers, policymakers, businesses and casual users alike, access to China’s public information is quietly shrinking as a growing number of official websites go dark outside the country, a new study has found. The contraction is far from marginal. A number of Chinese government websites were inaccessible from outside the country, […]

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US and Iran slide towards conflict as military buildup eclipses nuclear talks

Iran and the United States are sliding rapidly towards military conflict as hopes fade for a diplomatic solution to their standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, officials on both sides and diplomats across the Gulf and Europe say. Iran’s Gulf neighbors and its enemy Israel now consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, […]

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