Beyond the constant strife with the U.S., China’s assertion of global powers runs into increasing resistance even by normally acquiescent Asian nations.
India’s New Sense of Nation: Not a Hindu Thing
Media reports about India’s new citizenship rules and its impact on Muslim minorities swings between the tendentious, the comical and the absurd.
India Has a Modi and a BJP Problem
Modi’s initiative is undermining the very idea of India as a secular and multicultural liberal society.
Beyond Hong Kong: Unrest in Indonesia
The once reformist President Joko Widodo, now in his second term, gets swallowed up by the bureaucracy and overall Indonesian politics.
Two Chinas: Hong Kong and Shanghai
The people of Hong Kong are fighting a very courageous battle against very long odds. Meanwhile, people in Shanghai live well under a Faustian bargain with the CCP.
Southeast Asia: From Trade Wind to Typhoon
Trade brought prosperity to many of the trading sultanates which lined the coast of the archipelago and peninsula.
Southeast Asia: Three Interventions
China’s rise, the spread of Islam and the arrival of Europeans had a profound effect on the region.
Southeast Asia: Sumatra and Java in their Prime
Chinese Buddhists traveled to Sumatra to improve their learning before proceeding to India and Sri Lanka.
October 2049: The 100th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China
What will China look like a century after Mao’s victory in 1949?