A forceful "unification" of Taiwan has been projected by most analysts as happening within the next five years of Xi’s new third term, as he will need this to cement a history-making legacy that will help him extend his rule for life

Taipei needs full regional support for its survival and in its efforts to repel a Chinese invasion;  it cannot afford to be distracted by other lingering issues with other neighbours, including Japan, which Beijing is happy to exploit to its advantage. 

No country comes close to China’s sophisticated influence-seeking tools and the way it leverages its soft power. The relentless pursuit by Chinese propagandists, out to stake their claim on the global information order, are challenges that the independent global information order needs to meet. 

In this regard, both ASEAN and Malaysia seem to have lost their appeal to the West for a deeper security foothold, with Washington realising that the current situation of the region's pandering to Beijing makes it difficult for the US to establish rooted military alliances and placement of strategic anti-missile capacities, among others

A new, long and potentially ugly physical and mind games have begun, where conventional and tactical firepower alone would not guarantee long term success and acceptance

Both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh remain crucial in the eyes of New Delhi and Washington in denying further incursions by Beijing, underscored by the scramble for reassertion of American influence and ties with both nations

Beijing should be wise enough in realizing the dangerous impact of its using pugnacious responses to Pelosi’s visit that can risk greater backfiring from its strategic adversaries in the future

A new spectrum of tactical competition has begun in the Indo Pacific, and it requires more than threats and deterrence to determine the path and pattern of the conflict; it needs wisdom and strategic foresight by all the players in playing both the short and long game with both conventional and new tools of war and diplomacy

Regardless of future leadership transitions in Washington, the pivot to the Indo-Pacific will be here to stay in safeguarding America’s status quo and primacy, writes Collins Chong Yew Keat for South Asia Monitor

The short game might be Beijing’s to lose for now, but the long game is certainly Washington’s to squander away, writes Collins Chong Yew Keat for South Asia Monitor