Malaysia is finding it increasingly difficult to stay neutral in the US-China rivalry as the superpowers lock horns over trade, investment and the security of advanced technology, according to a top government adviser. “They don’t make us take sides when it comes to foreign policy,” Tengku Zafrul Aziz, senior political adviser to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, told This Week in Asia. “They ask me to take sides when it comes to security of technology.” Malaysia’s solution was...
Republican Senator Lindsay Graham's funeral is bringing the two world leaders to town, where they'll separately visit the White House to discuss their region's wars.
Will Britain's new cabinet change the country’s role in Israel’s war on Gaza?
Unreleased documentary footage shows late US Senator Lindsey Graham celebrating the war on Iran.
Marc Lamont Hill speaks with sociologist Ali Kadivar on what history shows about the risk of a US forever war in Iran.
The United States has spent decades trying to blunt China’s strategic rise. Yet in the Middle East, sanctions and the war against Iran are now dismantling one of the few assets built to constrain Beijing’s influence in the region. The Iranian port of Chabahar has received strong backing from India, which hoped it would gain both a trade corridor into Afghanistan and Central Asia that bypassed Pakistan and a strategic counterweight to the Chinese-operated Pakistani port of Gwadar. Both Washington...
Democratic lawmaker Sheldon Whitehouse says the US is turning into one of the world’s ‘worst-behaved countries’.
Each year on July 27, North Korea commemorates “Victory Day”, marking what it presents as its triumph in the Korean war. While few outside the country accept that characterisation, the date underscores a reality: the war never formally ended. The 1953 agreement was an armistice that left the peninsula in a state of suspended conflict. Responsibility for the resulting instability is widely distributed. North Korea’s missile tests, expanding nuclear arsenal and escalatory rhetoric have undermined...
Secretary of state says US has 'a head for an eye' policy as strikes hit Iran for a 12th straight night.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has rebuffed a threat by eight US lawmakers to suspend military training funds unless Kuala Lumpur reverses its long-standing restrictions on Israeli nationals. Muslim-majority Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel and has long been one of Southeast Asia’s most vocal supporters of Palestinian statehood. Anwar said Malaysia was exercising its sovereign right to control entry and rejected the lawmakers’ assertion that his government was violating...
Griffiths: Diplomacy requires US and Iran to accept they have ‘lost‘
As Rabat and Algiers compete for influence, closer ties with one now carry consequences for relations with the other.
Malaysia would not be intimidated into changing its decades-old policy of not allowing Israeli nationals into the country, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday. Anwar said Malaysia was also not in contravention of any international laws for having such a policy in place. “I would like to respond to the United States lawmakers, some of them at least, who stated categorically that Malaysia is in contravention of international laws and was disrespectful of the rights of nations. “This is...
The Democratic establishment has faced growing pressure to change its stance on Israel. It has finally begun to do so.
India-ASEAN agenda covers trade and investment, mobility and talent, tech, digital and AI, green and sustainability, as well as connectivity, Jaishankar said
US President Trump said he is open to direct talks with Hezbollah.
Late US senator backed invasion of Iraq, war on Iran and approach of 'more for Israel' as he became a Trump confidant.
Wu Xinbo is the dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai and a leading Chinese researcher on the US. In this interview, he analyses how shifts in US foreign policy are changing the relationship between the two countries. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, how do you assess US foreign policy and the future direction of its relations...
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's visit to the Gulf nations comes against the backdrop of fast-evolving political dynamics in the region following the peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran