Border Disputes

On September 10, 2025, China designated Scarborough Shoal, a 50-kilometer-wide triangular cluster of rocks and reefs in the South China Sea, as a protected marine reserve. While presented as an environmental measure, the move immediately sparked controversy, with the Philippines condemning it as an attempt to assert control over a strategically important waterway. The shoal lies just 134 nautical miles from the Filipino coast, within Manila's exc...

The South China Sea (SCS) is one of today's most complex and strategic geopolitical arenas where overlapping territorial and maritime claims intersect with vast economic resources and critical security interests. Its centrality stems from its status as the world's main maritime route, carrying 24 percent of global maritime trade valued at $5.3 trillion, its abundance of natural resources including oil, gas and fisheries, and the overlapping ...

On March 31, 2025, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met in the Tajik city of Khujand to formally declare the end of their decades-long territorial disputes. This agreement closes one of Central Asia's most persistent sources of instability, where contested borders in the Fergana Valley have cost lives and hampered regional development. The summit in Khujand marks a turning poin...