Beijing has been rapidly expanding its sea power ambitions in Africa by boosting its port infrastructure, including plans for a naval base in Equatorial Guinea.
Despite the fanfare, minilaterals like AUKUS will eventually wither away without delivering tangible results if they are not backed by concrete actions.
Xi and Putin's Beijing summit in May deepened China-Russia ties, integrating their soft and hard powers and blurring the line between wartime and peacetime.
China's Xiaokang villages along its India border are part of Beijing's strategy to exploit legal loopholes and negotiate territorial disputes on its own terms.
Japan's rich maritime history reflects its foreign and security policies, from 19th-century imperial ambitions to the establishment of modern trade routes.
China exploits the crisis in Myanmar by supporting anti-government forces while keeping the desperate junta reliant on investments and military support.
Contrary to China's claims, Japan incorporated the Senkaku Islands as vacant territory and its effective control over them went unchallenged for a long time.
The legacy of the Communists led by Mao was class conflict, while Confucianism, their designated enemy, advocated harmony, propriety, and benevolence.
China is expanding and diversifying its nuclear capabilities in both civilian and military sectors, boosting its global dominance in nuclear energy and weapons.
China's "railway dream," estimated to exceed 10% of Nepal's GDP, will push Nepal further into economic subordination and exacerbate South Asia's security risks.
Unlike Japan's inclusive approach, China's aid to the Pacific Islands is exploitative and must be countered to maintain a rules-based order in the region.
With expansionist and realpolitik agendas binding them, the current graph of China's foreign and security policy appears most closely aligned with that of Russia. Both countries...
