On October 15, the European Union adopted a new strategy on connecting Europe and Asia (Consilium.europa.eu, October 15), which became a major theme at the latest Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit, held in Brussels on October 18–19 (Consilium.europa.eu, October 19). Under this new connectivity initiative, the... MORE

In August 2018, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed its concern at reports the PRC had detained as many as a million members of Muslim ethnic minorities in extrajudicial re-education camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). At the same... MORE

Ever since the Six-Party Talks to denuclearize North Korea began in 2003, Russia has relentlessly searched for a way to prove its importance to all the other players, which also include South Korea, Japan, the United States and China. Indeed, a major driver of Russian... MORE

During the September 12 meeting of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), in Vladivostok, Russia and Mongolia, together with China, Japan, and South Korea, signed a number of hydrocarbon production and supply agreements designed to accelerate development of regional energy supply infrastructure in Northeast Asia. Mongolian... MORE

An August 31 hearing of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) marked the first appearance of Hu Lianhe (胡联合; literally, “Hu the Uniter”) on the global stage. Until recently Hu, one of the leading figures of a new generation of... MORE

After the week-long Vostok 2018 large-scale Russian strategic maneuvers ended on September 17 and the initial hot takes went to press, the Russian blog Naspravdi rebutted Western observations, declaring, “[I]f we consider that America, from time immemorial has only understood the language of power, I... MORE

Russia holds a major operational-strategic military exercise annually. And this year’s Vostok 2018 war game, which ran from September 11 to 17, received considerable foreign attention due both to its reported size, cast as the largest since Zapad 1981, and the inclusion of forces from... MORE

China and Myanmar have been widely expected to sign a 15-point Memorandum of Understanding on the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor by the end of this year (Global Times, June 26). However, this mega project, a key component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), may have... MORE

The Russian minister of defense, Army General Sergei Shoigu, and his first deputy, the chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, took over the country’s Armed Forces in November 2012. Shoigu, a civilian construction engineer with no military background, had served for over... MORE

Ahead of Vostok 2018, being held on September 11–17, Russia’s senior military leadership has actively promoted the scale and importance of this strategic-level exercise, particularly referencing the first ever participation of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces in these drills (see EDM, September 5). The... MORE