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US marines revamp amid China’s growing threat

When it comes to strategic priorities, what a difference a few years make. In 2013, then-US Pacific Command boss Admiral Samuel Locklear said his biggest worry was climate change. Though he may have believed it, mentioning China was risky in those days – as US Navy Pacific Fleet intelligence chief Captain James Fanell discovered. Read More

China forges ahead through chaos and threats

Amid the deepest economic contraction in nearly a century, President Xi Jinping had already made it very clear, last month, that China should be ready for unprecedented foreign challenges. He was not referring only to the possible decoupling of global supply chains and the non-stop demonization of every project related to the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative. Read More

Thailand’s ‘five families’ poised to profit on the plague

On a Covid-19 darkened alley, a 7-Eleven convenience store burns brightly in the night. Thailand’s coronavirus lockdown has shuttered all variety of businesses, but 7-Eleven, Family Mart and other modern franchised stores controlled and operated by major Thai conglomerates were allowed to keep the lights on as essential services, significantly while many traditional small entrepreneur-run shops were forced to go dark. Read More

Mutating virus could delay Covid-19 cure

It is a silent, microscopic enemy that attacks cell structures in the human body. But now the SARS-CoV-2 virus could have evolved into a more virulent strain since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan, threatening research on a global-wide vaccine. Read More

Vietnam may soon sue China on South China Sea

Vietnam is believed to be inching towards filing an international arbitration case against China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, a potential legal response to rising Chinese intimidation and harassment in the contested waterway. Analysts monitoring the situation believe Hanoi could file such a petition, possibly similar to the one the Philippines filed and won against China at The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration in July 2016. Read More

Saudi Arabia gives ‘yellow light’ to Israel debate

As families across Saudi Arabia wrap up their Ramadan feasts and settle in for an evening of TV under the Covid-19 curfew, a new star-studded sitcom is moving the goalposts in how the kingdom presents Israel. In Exit 7, veteran Saudi actor Nasser al-Qasabi plays Dukhi, an older civil servant in the kingdom working to keep up with the changing society around him. Read More

Why media get North Korea wrong

China’s navy has been flexing its muscles by conducting drills and sending its two aircraft carriers through the Taiwan Strait, into the South China Sea and the Pacific as the US and Taiwanese navies struggle with coronavirus outbreaks aboard their ships. Read More

From the archives

China squeezes debt repayments from virus-hit nations: Interest rates on Belt and Road project loans can be up to ‘6% for poor countries struggling’ with Covid-19.

Global virus lockdown was ‘madness’: A renowned German scientist calls lockdown 'incredibly harmful' to individuals and economy.

China plays divide and rule in South China Sea: China exploits Indonesia-Vietnam sea clash to sow division and redraw the contested maritime region’s map.

What Asia Times staff are reading

India looks to lure more than 1,000 American companies out of China: Donald Trump’s move to blame China for the coronavirus outbreak is expected to worsen global trade ties.

E.U. Is Facing Its Worst Recession Ever. Watch Out, World: New forecasts predict a 7.4% economic collapse and risks of even worse decline if the reopening triggers a second virus wave.

Why Is the Pentagon Still Paying $10 a Gallon for Gas?: Amid a global oil collapse, the military is overpaying politically connected contractors to keep its jets fueled in Iraq.