India’s Critical Mineral Challenge in a New Global Resource Order
India faces a looming critical‑mineral security gap as demand for copper, lithium, rare earths and other inputs surges amid its clean‑energy and defence ambitions. A new study shows India’s import basket is split among raw ores from Australia, Chile and the DRC, processed intermediates dominated by China, and scrap sourced mainly from China and Russia. China now controls roughly 90% of rare‑earth processing and sizable shares of lithium, cobalt and graphite value chains, creating a structural dependency. The National Critical Mineral Mission, launched in 2025, seeks to diversify supply, invest across the value chain and scale circular‑economy recycling to avoid a low‑value lock‑in.
The Deepening of Australia-Indonesia Ties Yields Dividends With Fertilizer Shipment
Australia has received a 47,250‑tonne shipment of Indonesian urea fertilizer, part of a 250,000‑tonne agreement designed to shore up farm inputs after the Iran war disrupted global fertilizer flows. The deal highlights the deepening strategic partnership between Canberra and Jakarta,...
Vietnam’s National Champions
Vietnam’s new party chief To Lam has pledged over 10% annual GDP growth through 2030, backed by sweeping anti‑corruption reforms and the elimination of eight ministries. Central to the plan is Resolution 68, which designates the private sector as the economy’s primary...
Building a Battery Champion: What CATL and Dongqiao Reveal About China’s Industrial Model
China’s Dongqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone helped catapult CATL from a single factory in 2011 to the world’s largest EV‑battery maker, now boasting 330 GWh of installed capacity and another 170 GWh under construction. The zone’s preferential land, tax breaks and...
Putin and Anwar’s US Dollar Swap Deal
At the ASEAN‑Russia summit in Kazan, President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced a long‑term oil, gas and petrol supply deal that functions as a de facto U.S.‑dollar swap. Russia will deliver crude to Malaysia in exchange for dollars,...
How the Russia-Ukraine War Rewired Southeast Asia’s Arms Trade
For decades Southeast Asian nations balanced U.S., Russian, French, Korean and Israeli weapons to preserve strategic autonomy. The Russia‑Ukraine war has collapsed Russia’s role, dropping its share of new ASEAN defence contracts from about 20% to under 3% between 2017‑2021...
How the Iran War Disrupted ASEAN’s Energy Transition
The March closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices soaring, inflating ASEAN’s energy import bill by an estimated $3.36 billion each month. The shock exposed the bloc’s heavy reliance on Middle‑East oil—about 55 percent of crude imports—and triggered a rapid...
The Future of BRICS After the Iran War
In the latest Beyond the Indus episode, Brazil’s BRICS Policy Center founder Carlos Gama joins host Tushar Shetty to dissect India’s upcoming BRICS presidency and its strategic priorities ahead of the September summit in Delhi. The discussion highlights the tension...
Can Kazakhstan and Iran Sustain Momentum on Transport Corridor Development?
Kazakhstan and Iran agreed in Astana to deepen transport cooperation, allocating a Kazakh logistics terminal at Shahid Rajaee Port and offering Kazakh berths at Aktau and Kuryk. Both sides reaffirmed a joint target of moving 20 million tonnes per year on the...
Why the China-Iran Relationship Has Been Friendly But Distant Since Ancient Times
China’s recent covert aid to Iran—chip‑making tools, satellite imagery and missile‑propellant material—reflects a tactical move to curb U.S. influence in West Asia rather than a deep strategic bond. Iran relies on Beijing for roughly 90% of its oil imports and...
Central Asia Is Becoming Europe’s Channel to Afghanistan
The EU’s eighth EU‑Central Asia Afghanistan meeting in Almaty marked a strategic shift, routing its €161 million (≈$175 m) 2025 humanitarian aid through Central Asian partners. The bloc’s €12 billion (≈$13 bn) Global Gateway package funds water, energy and transport projects that double as...
Who’s Winning Southeast Asia’s De-Risking Race?
Global firms are accelerating a “China Plus One” strategy, diverting capital from China to Southeast Asia. In 2023, the region attracted $236 billion in foreign direct investment, up from a $190 billion average in 2020‑22, as companies seek to hedge geopolitical risk. Vietnam, Indonesia,...
North Korea’s Quiet Campaign to Be a ‘Responsible’ Nuclear Power
North Korea’s cyber‑theft unit stole roughly $1.6 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025’s first three quarters, according to the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT). The UN’s Panel of Experts was dismantled after Russia vetoed its renewal in 2024, leaving a voluntary coalition...
South Korea’s Nuclear Ambitions Clash With Political Realities
In September 2025 the United States unexpectedly endorsed South Korea’s civilian uranium enrichment and reprocessing program, a stark reversal of a decades‑long policy of blocking such capabilities. The progressive Lee Jae‑myung administration, riding a wave of electoral victories, has publicly...
Fighting with Ghosts: Sar Sokha’s Belated Sanctions Panic
Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Sokha has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on two U.S. law firms to avoid being listed under the H.R. 5490 sanctions provision. The bipartisan bill, originally targeting a list of elite scam‑compound figures, stripped that list during...