Geo Politics

President Xi Jinping will attend the inaugural China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from December 7-10, according to a statement issued by Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry spokesman, on December 7. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to greet Chinese President Xi Jinping with a grandiose welcome that, according to diplomats in …

As December approached, the planned sovereign wealth fund, or Maharlika Wealth Fund, including around P275 billion that the government would pool from pension funds and banks to invest in large-scale national projects and other assets, dominated political discourse. Everyone has contributed their two cents to the discussion. In an effort to downplay the worries of the proposal’s detractors, administration aides …

Prince William received US President Joe Biden at Boston’s waterfront on December 2, the last day of a visit by British royals attempting to draw attention to environmental issues. On their first overseas tour since assuming the titles of Prince and Princess of Wales upon Queen Elizabeth’s death in September, William and his wife, Kate, strove to keep the attention …

Muhyiddin Yassin, the leader of Perikatan Nasional (PN), has criticized Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s new Cabinet, calling it “the most disappointing in the nation’s history.” By choosing kleptocrats to the Cabinet, according to Muhyiddin, Anwar has compromised the values of good administration he advocated during the 2015 general election campaign. “His reform program rings hollow given that he could not …

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stated on December 1 that the Philippines must find a means to explore for oil and gas in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) even in the absence of a settlement with China. He emphasized his nation’s legal right to utilize energy resources in the disputed waterway. According to Marcos, “that’s a major thing for …

Monday, Hong Kong’s highest court ruled that a British attorney can defend pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai in a national security trial, rejecting a government appeal to prohibit foreign counsel from such cases. Hong Kong’s Department of Justice made repeated attempts to prevent British attorney Timothy Owen from representing Lai, arguably Hong Kong’s most outspoken opponent of Chinese Communist Party leaders …

Public support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has reached a new low, according to a poll released on Sunday, November 27. A string of cabinet resignations has exacerbated outrage over the ruling party’s ties to a controversial religious group. In a Kyodo news poll conducted one month ago, support for Kishida’s cabinet dropped from 37.6% to 33.1%, his lowest …

Saturday, November 26 marked the beginning of municipal elections in Taiwan, which President Tsai Ing-wen has framed as a statement to the world about the island’s will to maintain its democracy in the face of China’s growing bellicosity. The elections for mayors, county heads, and local council men are nominally about internal matters like as the COVID-19 epidemic and criminality, …

The Philippines addressed a letter verbale to China requesting “clarification” over a recent incident in which Chinese coast guard personnel “forcibly collected” debris from Philippine Navy personnel in the West Philippine Sea. In an interview with CNN Philippines on Thursday, November 24, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo confirmed the move, stating that the Marcos administration wanted to hear about the conflict …

The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in western Hiroshima prefecture discovered mistakes in receipts linked to a campaign expenditure report on Thursday, November 24, after a magazine highlighted suspected violations of election funding laws. The claims are a further setback for the prime minister, who has seen three cabinet ministers resign in the past month and whose public …