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TURKEYSource

Oct 28, 2025

Working within a ‘Central Asia Quartet’ can strengthen US ties in the region. The foundations for it have already been laid.

By Kiran Baez

To strengthen their ties to Central Asia, the United States, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea should work together on their engagement with the region.

Central Asia Geopolitics & Energy Security

Inflection Points

Oct 27, 2025

Trump’s place in history depends on his approach to the CRINK

By Frederick Kempe

After a string of foreign policy wins, Trump's more significant challenge lies ahead: countering the bloc of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

China Iran

New Atlanticist

Oct 24, 2025

The winners and losers from China’s next five-year plan

By Jeremy Mark

In Beijing, the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee met this week to move forward the country’s fifteenth five-year plan.

China Economy & Business

UkraineAlert

Oct 23, 2025

US voices concern over Chinese support for Russia’s Ukraine invasion

By Katherine Spencer

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has raised concerns over Chinese components in Russian military drones amid fresh allegations of Beijing’s mounting support for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, writes Katherine Spencer.

China Conflict

Issue Brief

Oct 23, 2025

The CRINK: Inside the new bloc supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine

By Angela Stent

The latest report in the Atlantic Council's Russia Tomorrow series details how Russia’s war against Ukraine has brought together a new set of partners--united not by shared values, but by shared grievances--on the international stage: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

China Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Oct 21, 2025

How the US should partner with Central Asian states to avoid Russia-China dominance

By Tatiana Gfoeller

By acting now, Washington can capitalize on the desire among some Central Asian states to reduce their dependence on Moscow and Beijing.

Central Asia China

Issue Brief

Oct 16, 2025

South and Southeast Asia are on the front lines of the democracy-autocracy showdown

By Prakhar Sharma and Gauri Kaushik

How do democracies die? Not with a dramatic coup, but through quiet, intentional dismantling—rules bent just slightly, laws rewritten, oppositions discredited and then disarmed. This warning from political scientists has proven prophetic across South and Southeast Asia, where the past decade has witnessed steady democratic erosion.

Democratic Transitions East Asia

Report

Oct 15, 2025

What Taiwan can learn from China’s gray-zone actions against the Philippines

By Chung-Yu Chou

China uses different tactics for different aims: slow but persistent maritime incursions off the coast of the Philippines and high-speed aerial harassment in Taiwanese airspace. But Manila’s responses offer useful lessons for Taipei. A new study of the Philippines’ experience shows what Taiwan can do to create limits on Chinese action without triggering open conflict.

Conflict Crisis Management

EnergySource

Oct 15, 2025

Solving the US military’s gallium dilemma requires turning trash into treasure

By Macdonald Amoah, Morgan D. Bazilian, Lt. Col. Jahara "Franky" Matisek, and Col. Katrina Schweiker

The metal gallium plays an outsized role in US war readiness—and China controls most of its supply. As geopolitical competition deepens, the United States needs a new playbook to fix this vulnerability.

China Energy & Environment

In the News

Oct 14, 2025

Kroenig quoted in the Wall Street Journal on New-START Treaty

On October 5, Atlantic Council vice president and Scowcroft Center senior director Matthew Kroenig was quoted in an article in the Wall Street Journal. He argues against extending the New START arms control agreement in order to expand the US nuclear arsenal to compete with China.

Arms Control China

Experts

Events