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‘First Tier’: China’s Strategic Community on India-U.S. Ties
B. R. Deepak writes on China's strategic perception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recently concluded visit to the United States. He writes that China’s strategic community has deemed the visit a “First Tier” (第一梯队) event among foreign leaders’ visits to the U.S. India’s presence alongside U.S. allies like Israel and Japan in the “first tier” sends significant signals regarding strategic priorities, defense partnerships, and Indo-Pacific focus, according to an article in Liberation Daily featuring perspectives from scholars like Zhang Jiadong, Hu Shisheng, and Lin Minwang. Prof. Zhang opines that Modi’s U.S. visit “highlights the U.S. prioritization of its alliance and partnership framework under 'Trump 2.0,' with India surpassing Europe in importance, writes Deepak. Read this piece here.
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PRC Mining in Tibet – a European Perspective
Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy writes that given the enormous geostrategic and environmental importance of the Tibetan Plateau, what the People’s Republic of China (PRC) does with Tibet’s waters and its minerals does not concern the PRC only. It concerns the entire Himalayan region and their people, their security, and ecological interests. Beyond the region, Ferenczy argues, China’s role in the global race for critical raw materials (CRM) cannot be overstated. It is already leading in the race and needs Tibet’s rich resources to keep its lead. Going forward, Beijing is likely to expand mining activities on the Plateau, displacing and disempowering Tibetans, with far-reaching regional and global implications. In contrast with the PRC, the European Union (EU) is just catching up in the CRM race. Due to its internal fragmentation, the EU has failed to raise its concerns regarding PRC policies in Tibet, including its violations of human rights standards, writes Ferenczy. To understand the implications of PRC mining operations, it is important to assess these through the lens of China’s role in the race for CRM. It is also imperative to address China’s narrative-shaping efforts concerning Tibet and its mining activities versus the reality on the ground, writes Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy. Download and read this issue brief here.
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Explaining The Fall of Assad from Iran’s Strategic Perspective
Amir Hossein Vazirian and Zeynab Farhadi write on Iran's domestic political situation. They write that the lightning fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the dominance of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham over Damascus have far-reaching consequences. Though some have compared this to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Vazirian and Farhadi raise a few questions: Did Tehran leave Assad alone? Why could Iran not keep Assad? What consequences will Assad’s fall have for Tehran? What are the possible options for Iran? The authors argue that there is ample evidence of Tehran’s determination to support Assad after the Tahrir al-Sham advance began. Despite Tehran's reducing its advisory presence after Assad consolidated power, particularly after Damascus became insecure due to the escalation of tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv, the Aleppo and Damascus Headquarters have never been devoid of high-ranking Iranian military personnel. The killing of General Senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Kiomars Pourhashemi after the rebels’ assault on Aleppo stands as a testament to this commitment, write Vazirian and Farhadi. Read this piece here.
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Fostering Order In The Indo-Pacific: What the EU Can Learn From and Do With Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam
Order in the Indo-Pacific is characterized by forces that simultaneously sustain, strengthen, erode, expand, and reform it. The predominant force is the reemergence of Asia at large as an economic, (geo)political, and technological force, particularly China, India, ASEAN, and actors in the Islamic world. As power balances shift in favor of Asia, and in particular China, the Indo-Pacific is in an ordering dynamic in which new institutions are founded, rules and principles such as sovereignty and non-interference are simultaneously violated and emphasized, and new principles and norms regarding cooperation and security are promoted. Amidst this backdrop, the interpretation of order fostering in the Indo-Pacific is critical. This Special Report is a research outcome of a year-long study sponsored by Mercator Stiftung on five powers- Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam- in the Indo-Pacific to examine how the EU must look at the region. In other words, this report answers three questions in particular: 1) What are the five powers’ interpretations of and preferences for order in the Indo-Pacific? 2) What are these five powers’ views on EU (members) strategies and their preferences for the EU to support order in the Indo-Pacific? 3) Why and how can the EU best position its policies more closely to those of the five powers? Read and download this special paper authored by Richard Ghiasy, Julie Yu-Wen Chen, and Jagannath Panda.
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Report of the Webinar on China’s Rapacity for Mining Tibetan Resources: When Will the Greed End? (Climate Crisis in Tibet-III)
The webinar report titled “China’s Rapacity for Mining Tibetan Resources: When Will the Greed End?” was the third in a webinar series on the Climate Crisis in Tibet, organized by the SCSA-IPA at the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP). It was held on January 21, 2025. Thanks to its distinguished panel of experts, the event contributed significantly to raising awareness about Chinese mining activities on the Himalayan plateau, and the effects of China’s policies in Tibet at the geopolitical and environmental levels. The extensive Chinese mining activities are still overlooked by the international community. Therefore, this webinar stems from a necessity to provide an overview of the topic from an environmental and geopolitical perspective to address the following questions: What is the extent and scope of the Chinese mining operations in the Tibetan Plateau? What is the extent of extraction of critical minerals, particularly rare earths, in Tibet?
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Cascading Effects: Will China’s New Dam Create A Himalayan Rift?
Jagannath Panda and Mrittika Guha Sarkar write that China’s continued push for dams on Tibetan rivers is a direct result of its growing demands for not only water for drinking and other purposes but also electricity amid shrinking resources. This latter demand, in turn, is largely compounded by China’s expanding infrastructure activities in Tibet, mainland China, and the border areas. Panda and Sarkar write that undoubtedly, the over-damming will weaken the Tibetan Plateau’s ecosystem, which is already under strain due to global warming. The Tibetan Plateau, often referred to as the “Third Pole,” is warming at a rate nearly two times the global average. This accelerated warming is melting glaciers rapidly, destabilizing seasonal river flows, and increasing sedimentation risks in dam reservoirs. Additionally, aerosol deposits in the region further amplify glacial retreat, compounding risks for downstream populations and ecosystems. These cascading climate risks not only endanger ecosystems but also exacerbate security concerns. Read this piece by Jagannath Panda and Mrittika Guha Sarkar in The National Interest here.
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‘First Tier’: China’s Strategic Community on India-U.S. Ties
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PRC Mining in Tibet – a European Perspective
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Explaining The Fall of Assad from Iran’s Strategic Perspective
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Fostering Order In The Indo-Pacific: What the EU Can Learn From and Do With Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam
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Report of the Webinar on China’s Rapacity for Mining Tibetan Resources: When Will the Greed End? (Climate Crisis in Tibet-III)
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Cascading Effects: Will China’s New Dam Create A Himalayan Rift?
Latest Publications
Fostering Order In The Indo-Pacific: What the EU Can Learn From and Do With Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam
Executive Summary One of the most critical challenges of this century is fostering order in the Indo-Pacific. (Dis)order in this space will significantly affect the international order. Not only […]
Report of the Webinar on China’s Rapacity for Mining Tibetan Resources: When Will the Greed End? (Climate Crisis in Tibet-III)
The webinar titled “China’s Rapacity for Mining Tibetan Resources: When Will the Greed End?” was the third in a webinar series on the Climate Crisis in Tibet, organized by the […]
‘Critical to understand internal dynamics of China’: An Interview with FATOUMATA DIALLO
Fatoumata Diallo currently serves as the Acting Head of the Stockholm China Center and is a Research Fellow. With a background that includes working at the EU delegation to China […]
Books
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Arabs, Turks and Persians: Geopolitics and Ideology in the Greater Middle East
For decades, the Greater Middle East has been a leading challenge to American foreign policy. This vast region – ranging from North Africa in the west to Afghanistan in the […]
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The US and EU, and the Emerging Supply Chain Network: Politics, Prospects, and Allies
The Global Supply Chains have evolved from simply logistical achievements to being the bedrock of the global economy. Driven by technological advances and geopolitical shifts, this transformation underscores the critical […]
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IN DEFENSE OF THE LIBERAL INTERNATIONAL ORDER
In recent years, the geopolitical fight for global economic, diplomatic, and institutional control has acutely intensified, accentuating the crisis in the existing post-World War II Liberal International Order (LIO), championed […]
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Quad Plus and Indo-Pacific: The Changing Profile of International Relations
This book explores how the Quad Plus mechanism is set to reshape the global multilateral economic and security co-operations between Quad partner countries and the rest of the world. With […]