https://www.scmp.com/rss/13138/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com While former US president Donald Trump did little to demonstrate traditional American leadership in the Indo-Pacific, in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in Asia and particularly in the South China Sea, his successor Joe Biden wants the United States to actively curb Beijing’s expansionist instincts. China has been building up artificial islands in the South China Sea and pre-empting the claims of others – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan – and this has caused... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3145344/afghanistan-debacle-will-make-us-courtship-southeast?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3145344/afghanistan-debacle-will-make-us-courtship-southeast?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Aug 2021 01:15:17 +0000 While the just-concluded One Belt One Road Forum in Beijing had all the trappings of a colossal international spectacle, with leaders and politicians from around the world smiling for the international media and photographers, the absence of some political heavyweights served as a stark reminder that all was not going according to President Xi Jinping’s ( 習近平 ) choreography. Xi would have liked to see one leader who was conspicuously missing: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Miffed by... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2094549/china-must-heed-indias-concerns-coax-modi-board-belt-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2094549/china-must-heed-indias-concerns-coax-modi-board-belt-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 May 2017 04:03:20 +0000 The demand for democracy in Hong Kong, manifesting itself in the Occupy Central movement, is being closely watched by Taiwan and other Asian governments. One worrying question is whether Beijing would ask the Hong Kong authorities to use force to crush the protests; such a move would send the wrong signal to Taiwan, which China wants to see returned to the fold of the "motherland". Analysts in Taiwan fear that their president, Ma Ying-jeou, in his zeal for greater trade and economic benefits, is... https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1549555/beijings-treatment-hong-kong-protests-watched-wary-region?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1549555/beijings-treatment-hong-kong-protests-watched-wary-region?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jul 2014 06:15:00 +0000 Hong Kong is an exciting and modern city characterised by the ubiquitous entrepreneurial energy. You feel and see this as your plane lands at Chek Lap Kok. But the sad fact is that not much is known to the outside world about Hong Kong except that it is a former British colony which suddenly lost its uniqueness in 1997 when it became a special administration region of China. In the US, for example, not many even know Hong Kong's geographical location. The city is known mainly to the handful of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1031795/hong-kongs-identity-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1031795/hong-kongs-identity-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Fresh from his Asia tour, American deputy defence secretary Ashton Carter recently outlined at the Asia Society in New York the contours of the US "rebalance strategy" in the Asia-Pacific region. Although the strategy is, obviously, a response to the growing military and economic might of China, which worries many countries - particularly those with claims to the gas-and-oil-rich South China Sea islands - Carter denied it was aimed against any country. "The rebalance is not about China or the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1014792/us-regional-presence-acts-needed-counterweight-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1014792/us-regional-presence-acts-needed-counterweight-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000 For much of its post-independence history, India was seen as the Kipling-esque land of fakirs sleeping on nail beds, sacred cows, abject poverty and, if anyone cared to remember, the imposing Taj Mahal. But, now, in its 60th year of independence from British colonial rule, the world's largest democracy is seen as a nation of hopeful achievers; a giant awakened from a deep slumber, who discovers that he has missed out on many opportunities during the socialist stupor he had fallen into. By... https://www.scmp.com/article/604130/india-beacon-hope-south-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/604130/india-beacon-hope-south-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Aug 2007 16:00:00 +0000 Indian diplomats are playing down the disagreement with the US over a recent nuclear deal as just a 'hiccup' in bilateral relations. American politicians across party lines, think-tanks and anti-nuclear activists question the wisdom of the Bush administration giving India access to sensitive nuclear technology and materials without New Delhi signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty. India, they say, is allowing inspection of only its civilian nuclear reactors. There is opposition in India too;... https://www.scmp.com/article/594085/cloud-hangs-over-indo-us-nuclear-deal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/594085/cloud-hangs-over-indo-us-nuclear-deal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 May 2007 16:00:00 +0000 With her passionate defence of the 'historic' Indo-US nuclear deal before the House of Representatives and Senate committees last month in Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have managed to evoke sympathy for India. However, the fate of the deal remains uncertain, thanks to the intransigence of some committee members. For Dr Rice - and, indeed, President George W. Bush, who announced the deal during his visit to India in early spring - a strategic partnership with India is... https://www.scmp.com/article/549944/few-moves-short-global-tango?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/549944/few-moves-short-global-tango?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 May 2006 16:00:00 +0000