ISDP Voices

Semiconductor chips have quickly become strategic resources for China and the U.S. to leverage in their race for digital dominance. This is in large part due to the close association between semiconductor chips and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Global shortages are coinciding with increasing demand and geopolitical turmoil, forcing states to redraw their supply chains and […]

On March 12, 2021, U.S. President Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Suga, Australian Prime Minister Morrison, and Indian Prime Minister Modi held a quadrilateral summit meeting (the Quad) to discuss pressing issues of the Indo-Pacific region. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Quad forms a multilateral strategic alignment vis-à-vis rising Chinese power. Shortly thereafter on […]

In line with the global trend of decline and delay of marriage, the number of millennials in China who are postponing or even rejecting marriage is growing. Between 2013 and 2019, the number of Chinese people getting married for their first time decreased by 41 percent. While the average age of marriage has risen in the […]

London increases its naval presence in the Pacific. Those who control the seas have always been able to influence the world and manage to protect their investments and interests abroad. The United Kingdom is unlikely to reach its former levels of naval superiority on the seas. However, the introduction of the aircraft carriers HMS Queen […]

On January 20, 2021, Joseph Biden is scheduled to assume the next U.S. President succeeding Donald Trump who had taken presidential leadership since January 20, 2017. It has been observed that foreign and security policy under the Biden administration vis-à-vis Japan may be more predictable unlike the case of President Trump who demanded Japan increase […]

Ever since China in 2015 set its goal of eradicating absolute poverty by the end of 2020, the Chinese state-run media have been reporting on the progress. In late November this year, it announced that China’s remaining impoverished counties had “shaken off poverty”. The news was later followed by an official announcement of China having […]

The Japanese government is slated to pass the fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality, which will be put into operation from 2021. While new targets will be added, the core of the plan is likely to resemble the plan presented in 2015. Although empowering women was one of the key strategies of the former prime […]

The geopolitical ambitions of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have increased the pressures on overseas Chinese. This growing group is caught between China’s quest for international influence and the racism and exploitation in their host countries. With the launch of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, the sharp rise in young Chinese […]

“China is”, in the words of Bertrand Russell, “much less a political entity than a civilization”. Chinese civilization would exist even without a Chinese state, just as we may speak of European civilization despite Europe not being a state. It is not easy to define exactly what “Chinese civilization” or “Chinese culture” is, and it […]

As one of China’s least developed areas, Yunnan Province in the country’s southwest is at the epicenter of the Chinese state’s efforts to eradicate poverty. Yunnan is also a historically diverse area with several ethnic groups. Less well off than the dominant Han majority, China’s ethnic minorities are the most beset by economic hardship. The […]