On September 6, China’s ambassador to Georgia, Zhou Qian, made an important declaration regarding Beijing’s interest in the development of the deep-water Port of Anaklia in Georgia. Zhou made clear that China considers the port a “critical component” of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)... MORE

In a recent interview on September 13, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated that Armenia can no longer rely on Moscow as a guarantor of its security (Asbarez.com, September 13). This comes against the backdrop of renewed tensions in the South Caucasus, as recent events... MORE

At the end of August 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine launched a drone strike against the 126th Brigade of the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed at the Sevastopol base in Crimea (Kyiv Independent, August 26). The attack hit ammunition depots and damaged critical Russian... MORE

At the beginning of September 2023, Pope Francis embarked on a four-day trip to Mongolia. The visit marked the 43rd foreign journey he has made since beginning his pontificate (Business-gazeta.ru, September 10). The Holy Father used the occasion to outline his views on the proper... MORE

On September 9, at the G20 summit in New Delhi, United States President Joe Biden signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India and a number of Middle Eastern countries and European Union member states. The agreement aims to create a new trade corridor linking... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s absence at the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 was not all that surprising and seemed hardly registered by any of the two dozen world leaders who attended. Putin also missed the previous summit in Bali, Indonesia,... MORE

Supreme leader Xi Jinping’s failure to attend the G20 summit in New Delhi this weekend (September 9-10) — thus nullifying the possibility of a meeting with top Western leaders including American counterpart President Joe Biden — is symptomatic of the isolation that China is facing... MORE

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has come to recognize the important role of social media in modern conflict and peacetime operations. As such, PLA researchers have begun using the term “social media warfare” (社交媒体战) to describe the extension of non-kinetic military activities onto social media... MORE

Beijing has recently introduced a blitzkrieg of regulatory measures targeting industries ranging from video games and financial technology to food delivery and education (Tuzhixi, July 27, 2021). The introduction of these regulatory measures has had profound implications on China’s economic trajectory. China’s tech giants have... MORE

Chinese President Xi Jinping is working in earnest to develop for China what his government calls “rule by law” (法治). It is sometimes translated into English as “rule of law,” though this is misleading, as Chinese law cannot restrict arbitrary exercise of power at the... MORE