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Japan’s Billions Are the Wildcard in Southeast Asia’s Aid Race

Credit: Depositphotos For the last two decades, the contest for influence in Southeast Asia has almost always been conceptualized as a two-horse race: China floods...

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Vietnam’s Top Leader To Lam to Pay State Visits to Australia and New Zealand

To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and president of Vietnam, delivers a keynote address at the 23rd IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in...

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Where is Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi?

A stencil graffiti image of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi by an unknown artist in Bangkok, Thailand. Credit: Photo 49495792 © 1000words | Dreamstime.com The...

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How the World Learned to Live with the Exclusion of Afghan Women

Credit: Photo 186255027 | Afghanistan Women © Tim Gurney | Dreamstime.com Five years ago, when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the world watched...

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Nepal, India, and the Paradox of Hydro-hegemony

The Pharping Power Plant, commissioned in 1911, was one of Asia’s earliest hydropower plants. Credit: Sujitabh Chaudhary on Unsplash Nepal aspires to...

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Tajikistan’s Taxman Comes for the E-Wallet

Credit: Rodion Kutsaiev on Unsplash Starting September 1, 2026, Tajikistan will tax transactions routed through electronic wallets, mobile apps, and QR-code payments....

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What the Trump-Xi Summit Means for Africa

U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China at the Great...

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The West Indulges China in Its Backing for Russia Against Ukraine

Credit: Russian Presidential Press and Information Service Since not long after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the democratic world has...

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The South Korea-US Alliance: What Comes After OPCON?

U.S. Army soldiers and Republic of Korea Army soldiers don protective masks during Counter-Weapons of Mass Destruction training in South Korea, Aug....

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North Korea Returns to the South Via Women’s Football 

The Naegohyang FC women’s football team hoists the trophy after winning the Asian Football Confederation’s women’s club championship in Suwon, South Korea....

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Understanding Cambodia’s Scam Economy, with Jacob Sims

Credit: Depositphotos Today on The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast host Katie Putz is joined by Jacob Sims, a columnist for The Diplomat,...

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China’s Rise and the Challenge to US Maritime Security

Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States, conducted a Maritime Cooperative Activity (MCA), April 7, 2024. Credit: U.S. Navy Photo by...

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What’s Driving Anti-Qing Sentiment in Contemporary China?

A scroll painting of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661 – 1722) of the Qing Dynasty, in armor. Credit: Wikimedia Commons On May...

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A Textbook Debate: Why Russian Historians Told Kyrgyz Historians to Ditch the Term ‘Colonialism’

Ala-Too Square, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, summer 2025. Credit: Catherine Putz In mid-May an old debate with deep roots surfaced during a meeting of...

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