Global Watch

In a brief but closely watched meeting, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Busan, South Korea on October 30 to discuss issues ranging from trade and technology to global conflicts. Both leaders struck a cautiously positive tone, with Trump describing the talks as productive and Xi saying there were "good prospects for cooperation."   Chips and Ukraine Take Center Stage One of the most talked about topics was...

For more than 60 years, New Zealand and the Cook Islands have shared a rare bond of a "free association" that gave the islands self-rule while keeping Wellington in charge of defense and foreign affairs. But that arrangement, long seen as a model of post-colonial cooperation, now appears to be under strain.   Tensions erupted after the Cook Islands tried to issue their own passports and later signed a strategic agreement with China, both m...

China showcased its growing global influence during the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, held in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1, 2025. The meeting, the largest in the bloc’s history, brought together more than 20 heads of state and 10 international organizations, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.   Under Beijing’s 2024-2025 chairmanship, the summit served as a platform for China to demo...

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...

On August 31, 2025, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first official visit to China in seven years for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. This meeting was highly significant for both Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose countries have much in common. Both are economic, political, and cultural powerhouses in Asia and globally, with nuclear capabilities and rapidly rising influence. And while relations between th...