https://www.scmp.com/rss/525435/feed Julien Chaisse is professor of law & RGC Senior Research Fellow at City University of Hong Kong and President of the Asia Pacific FDI Network. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Julien Chaisse Julien Chaisse Indonesia says it is not choosing sides. That is true in diplomacy. It is less true on the map. The “major defence cooperation partnership” announced by Washington and Jakarta on April 13 is written in the safe language of official communiques: capacity building, education, exercises, cooperation. But the harder meaning lies beneath the phrasing. The most important line in this new defence partnership is not the reassuring one about “peace and stability”. It is the one about “maritime,... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3350215/how-new-us-indonesia-defence-pact-sharpens-chinas-malacca-dilemma?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3350215/how-new-us-indonesia-defence-pact-sharpens-chinas-malacca-dilemma?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:30:08 +0000 Julien Chaisse Julien Chaisse Over the past 12 months, a series of political and military crises has erupted in different parts of the world. Do they have anything in common? On the surface, the dramas in Iran, Panama, Venezuela and Greenland look separate, each with its own cast, excuse and headlines. What links them is not ideology, or the public language used to sell each move. It is the map. Iran sits beside the Strait of Hormuz, the choke point for Gulf energy flows. Panama sits astride one of the world’s trade... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3345449/what-crises-iran-panama-venezuela-and-greenland-have-common?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3345449/what-crises-iran-panama-venezuela-and-greenland-have-common?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2026 12:30:08 +0000