China Studies US‑Iran War to Prep Taiwan Strategy
What lessons is China learning from the current U.S.–Iran conflict and how could those lessons shape a future Taiwan scenario? In this @CarnegieEndow video, my #CarnegieAsia teammate Lieutenant General (Ret) @LTG_CHooper breaks down the key takeaways military strategists in Beijing are likely studying right now, from drone warfare and “interceptor math” to logistics, economic choke points, and the importance of striking first. Key topics he covers include: why tactical success doesn’t guarantee strategic victory; how cheap drones and missiles can overwhelm advanced defenses; the hidden vulnerabilities behind air superiority; why logistics and stockpiles may decide future wars; and the global economic stakes of modern conflict. https://t.co/qaCbcg7NM4
Trump’s Unpredictability Undermines Consistent Taiwan Policy
Why would anything Trump says bind a future president, or even bind himself? He turns on a dime and could reverse his words next Thursday. American policy toward Taiwan used to put a premium on consistency and predictability. Neither of...
UK and Costa Rica Join CPTPP, Spreading Asian Innovation Globally
There was a time when the United States and the transatlantic West were supposed to be the rule-makers while a lot of analysts reduced Asia to being nothing more than rule-takers. Not that Costa Rica is a big economy, but...
Central Asian Dynamics, Not US Policy, Drive Regional Cooperation
With due respect, I oversaw U.S. policy in Central Asia for part of the Bush 43 second term and we were most certainly "dealing with the region on its own terms." What has changed is not "American naïveté" because, in...
US and China Still Forget How to Cooperate
I wrote this essay six years ago, at the height of the pandemic, on "Why the United States and China Forgot How to Cooperate." Trump's impending visit to China notwithstanding, they haven't exactly remembered since then. https://t.co/pFbzsL3pLz
China Shifts From 2+2 to 3+3 Security Partnerships
China hardly needs a 2+2 dialogue format for Central Asia - its channels across the region are extensive and have pretty deep roots. Incidentally, the trend line is not toward 2+2 but toward 3+3 with internal security, policing, and surveillance...
Trump‑Xi Summit Unlikely to Shift Asia’s Geopolitical Landscape
Enjoyed chatting with @cherykang and @MandyCNBC on @CNBC #SquawkBoxAsia from the Singapore studio about my rather low expectations for the prospective Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, who has leverage on whom, why the United States has lost the plot on how...
Asia Needs Forward Bases and Allied Support, Not Isolation
Hegseth has been forward-leaning on Indonesia and several other Asian partnerships so this framing really doesn't work well in Asia. Good luck deterring China, much less warfighting in the Indo-Pacific, without the forward deployed bases, logistics support, and other assets,...
Iran Conflict Depletes US Missile Stockpiles, Undermining Indo‑Pacific Deterrence
If you care about deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, this is not an encouraging story ... Six years to replace stockpiles and a pretty stunning burn rate on Tomahawks, Patriot: "Based on prewar inventories, CSIS estimated that munitions expended in Iran...
Landlocked Nations Need Diverse Links, Not Single-Partner Dependence
I'm afraid you can build a highway from Kyrgyzstan to western China but not from Kyrgyzstan to California. So if you're a landlocked economy, you do build infrastructure links to contiguous countries like China, especially when they have been growing,...
China’s Influence Extends Beyond Two Nations in LATAM, Middle East
If folks really think China's entire "standing" in both Latin America and the Middle East hinged on just two countries, they have not paid sufficient attention to the diversity of China's offerings, the local "pull" instead of just Chinese "push"...
China May Follow Iraq Model for Gulf Deals
Wait for things to shake out and then make deals with Gulf states on the other side, leveraging its own offerings? Iraq, where China is a dominant player in the upstream, maybe an instructive precedent for China ...
U.S. Overfocus on Security Leaves Asia Neglected Elsewhere
Unfortunately, defense ties have never been the problem for the United States in Asia ... Strategically, we are long on security but short on everything else. I have been harping on this theme for a decade and a half.
Yunnan Cuisine: America's Next Underrated Food Wave
Nope. It's already widespread and good. My two-cents: Yunnan food is THE most underrated cuisine in America so if you are Hunan'ed, Sichuan'ed, and Xi'an'ed out, it's time for a Yunnan restaurant wave across America.
Denza Z9GT Charges in Five Minutes—Will It Compete?
It charges in five minutes. But can China's Denza Z9GT EV crack the competition? https://t.co/MYiGEv5Y1M via @ft