On January 16, two Uzbek and Kazakh citizens in South Korea were arrested for violating the country’s anti-terrorism funding laws by using cryptocurrency to fund the Syrian al-Qaeda-aligned jihadist group Katibat Tavhid wal-Jihad (KTJ) (Yonhap News Agency, February 16). Their funding of KTJ was, however,... MORE

Introduction The existential North Korean nuclear and missile threats negatively impact the Asia-Pacific security environment for the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia. In response, these countries have taken countermeasures to defend themselves against the growing danger from North Korea. As a result, North... MORE

Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine has become a game-changer for the architecture of international security—and not only from a regional perspective. Most recently, it provided a window of opportunity for South Korean security and energy companies to deepen engagement with the countries of Central and... MORE

While German politics remained relatively stable under former Chancellor Angela Merkel and we may observe a certain level of continuity under her successor, Olaf Scholz, Polish politics have undergone a profound change since 2015, when the United Right (Law and Justice) took charge. This shift... MORE

Editor’s Note: This is the second article in a two-part series on PLA military diplomacy. The first article focused on leader-level engagement. This piece examines specific areas of activity in the PLA’s military diplomacy. For part one, click here.  Despite some limitations, the People’s Liberation... MORE

On July 15, speaking during a session of the Russian State Duma, Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov elaborated on the need to take a turn “from absolutist market-type industrial policy toward a policy aimed at securing [Russia`s] industrial sovereignty.” In his speech, Manturov said that... MORE

Introduction Recent headlines on Northeast Asian maritime affairs have focused on Beijing’s claim that the Taiwan Strait should not be considered international waters based on the principle that Taiwan is Chinese territory (Huanqiu Shibao, June 23; Liberty Times, June 23; JongangIlbo, June 20). With international... MORE

Introduction On June 6, China declared the three-year anniversary of its business deployment of 5G, with the country having invested nearly 185 billion yuan in related infrastructure in 2021 alone (Xinhua Baoye, June 5). However, China’s 5G ambitions, which continue to form a substantial component... MORE

Introduction Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7)—an informal bloc of industrialized nations which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States—met virtually on February 19 in preparation for an upcoming June summit. The meeting focused on intensifying health cooperation; expanding vaccine... MORE

A number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region are looking at the Arctic as a potential engine to drive dramatic transformations in their most strategically important economic sectors, including energy, transportation, as well as research and development (Pro-arctic.ru, April 24). Aside from the three Asian... MORE