The electric vehicle transition is well underway in China: Last year, roughly one-third of all new cars sold in the country were electric. One EV company predicts the share will pass 50 percent by June 2024. More broadly, around half of China’s total installed electricity generation capacity comes from non-fossil fuel sources, including hydro, solar, … Read more
The Philippines has accused China of using cyanide to catch fish at the disputed Scarborough Shoal. That joins a lengthy list of China’s environmental crimes in the South China Sea, from turning disputed reefs into artificial islands through dredging and land reclamation work to clam harvesting techniques that destroy entire coral reefs. In this interview, … Read more
Riots in the capital. Tribal clashes in the Highlands. And a looming fuel shortage that has the whole country on edge. Papua New Guinea has seen a year’s worth of crises in just the first two months of 2024. Where does the country go from here? In this interview, recorded on February 23, 2024, The … Read more
If you follow China-U.S. relations, you’ve probably heard of “ping-pong diplomacy” – referring to the historic trip by an American table tennis team to China in April 1971. That set the stage for an official visit by Henry Kissinger in July 1971, and eventually full diplomatic normalization between the U.S. and the PRC. Today, amid … Read more
China-India relations have been on ice since 2020, when their troops clashed along the disputed Sino-Indian border. Tensions have continued at the political and military levels ever since, despite continued efforts to de-escalate. How have these frictions impacted Indian and Chinese exchanges – especially for people with familial ties to the other country? In the … Read more
It’s been a busy start to 2024 for North Korea. In less than a month, North Korea has tested a new solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile, topped with a “hypersonic warhead”; a new strategic cruise missile; and a previously-seen “nuclear-capable underwater attack drone.” All that comes on top of leader Kim Jong Un publicly abandoning the … Read more