China’s cautious quest to draw Afghanistan back into the fold

Written by Sarah Godek

By increasing relations at a slower pace, China’s government makes a safer long-term bet on Afghanistan that forgoes short-run gains to ensure greater security that could protect longer-term benefits in the future.

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The US-India partnership after Modi’s visit to Washington

Written by Satvik Pendyala and Nathaniel Sher

As the United States adapts to rising strategic competition with China, it has sought to strengthen ties with New Delhi as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific.

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Alignment without alliance: China’s growing ambivalence to Putin’s war

Written by Lunting Wu and Kamil Matusiewicz

Functional, strategic and normative factors have shaped Beijing’s growing ambivalence towards the war, and despite the absence of outright condemnation, a subtle shift and distancing can be discerned.

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Samarkand 2022 — the ‘China Dream’ of SCO Summits

Written by Giulia Sciorati

As the SCO opens to other Asian sub-regions and even the African continent, Central Asia risks losing its centrality and becoming a minor geographical area compared to the Gulf or Southeast Asia, where the national interests of SCO member states (and China, above all) are prominent.

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Nonalignment’s long shadow: India and the Ukraine crisis

Written by Rohan Mukherjee

The political relationship between India and Russia is unlikely to suffer greatly. Indeed, it will remain an asset if India is to avert the terminal decline and collapse of Russia, which would make it an unviable pole in India’s preferred multipolar world order.

In Brief: Dr Eva Seiwert, our new Associate Editor

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Eva Seiwert as our new Associate Editor. Dr Seiwert brings a wealth of experience to the role and we look forward to her work in continuing to showcase the next generation of leading thinkers while also working to connect Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

Will China get embroiled in the graveyard of empires?

Written by Velina Tchakarova

It will be interesting to follow how China will navigate this playground, as Beijing is likely to be the next great power to try and fill the void. Perhaps that is exactly why the US is pulling out now — the move could possibly become an American trap if China enters the Afghan quagmire and fails.

Sino-Russian relations: Inside the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Written by Eva Seiwert

While their disagreements behind the scenes prevent the SCO from becoming a more effective security organisation, the international images of both governments benefit from their co-leadership of the world’s largest RO in terms both of geographical and population size.

India and China: Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific Decade — Part I

Written by Velina Tchakarova

Whereas China approaches its affairs with India as asymmetric and non-zero-sum, India sees itself involved in a zero-sum interaction between two equally powerful countries in South Asia. India’s perception of China is that Beijing is taking the central position in its direct neighbourhood and increasingly in the IOR, while China perceives New Delhi as a major geopolitical factor with considerable naval capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region.