Asia Insight

By National Bureau of Asian ResearchNews Politics

Asia Insight episodes

August 20Documenting China’s Borderlands – Episode 10: The Gravity of the Center - China’s Civilizational Aspirations in the Borderlands
From the National Bureau of Asian Research, an Asia Insight miniseries exploring the geostrategic significance of China’s borderlands, led by Nadège Rolland, Distinguished Fellow for China Studies at NBR.
Episode Ten: The Gravity of the Center - China’s Civilizational Aspirations in the Borderlands
This final episode explores ways China uses cultural endeavors to pull its Borderlands neighbors into its orbit. Positioning China’s civilization as the core of the historical Silk Roads, promoting state-backed Nanhai Buddhism, or owning entire collections of historical records, require massive financial and human resources. These examples illustrate the crucial importance for Beijing of what otherwise appears as an amorphous, intangible domain. To what end?
With Ondřej Klimeš (Czech Academy of Sciences), Amish Raj Mulmi (independent editor and writer), Ryoko Nakano (Kanazawa University), and Dylan Plung (University of Washington).
Materials cited or referenced in the recording
Alison Kaufman, “China’s Discourse of ‘Civilization’: Visions of Past, Present, and Future,” Open Forum, February 19, 2018, https://theasanforum.org/chinas-discourse-of-civilization-visions-of-past-present-and-future/.
Edward Lemon and Bradley Jardine, “Digging up the Past to Justify the Present: China’s Archeological Diplomacy in Central Asia,” Borderlands, March 18, 2026, https://strategicspace.nbr.org/digging-up-the-past-to-justify-the-present-chinas-archaeological-diplomacy-in-central-asia/.
Amish Raj Mulmi, All Roads Lead North: China, Nepal and the Contest for the Himalayas (London: Hurst, 2021).
Glossary of Chinese terms used in the recording
Wenming 文明civilization, civility
Tifa 提法coded political formulations that signal ideological guidelines
Neiwai tongchou 内外统筹internal-external coordination
Additional Recommended Readings
Ondřej Klimeš, “China’s Cultural Soft Power: The Central Concept in the Early Xi Jinping Years (2012-2017), Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica 4, 2017.
Miguel Martin, “Global Religion and the United Front: The Case of Mongolia,” Jamestown China Brief 18(12), July 10, 2018, https://jamestown.org/global-religion-and-the-united-front-the-case-of-mongolia/.
Ryoko Nakano, “A Geocultural Power Competition in UNESCO’s Silk Road Project: China’s Initiatives and the Responses from Japan and South Korea,” Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 52(2), August 2023.
Dylan J. Plung, “Japan’s WWII Anniversary Strategy and China’s Memory Politics,” The Diplomat, June 28, 2025.
36 min
August 10 Critical Minerals and the New Era of Economic Security
In this episode of Asia Insight, NBR Assistant Director for Technology and Geoeconomic Affairs Jonathon Marek sits down with two NBR Nonresident Fellows, Jaemin Baek and Kristin Vekasi, to examine the growing importance of critical minerals as pillars of economic security, industrial policy, and geopolitical competition and to explore how the United States, Japan, and South Korea are working to diversify supply chains and reduce dependence on China.
Jaemin Baek is a Director with DGA Group, and he is also a Nonresident Fellow at NBR.
Jonathon Marek is an Assistant Director for Technology and Geoeconomic Affairs at NBR.
Kristin Vekasi is the Mansfield Chair of Japanese and Indo-Pacific Affairs at the University of Montana, and she is also a Nonresident Fellow at NBR.
26 min
July 30 Next in Line: Thailand’s Rising Leaders and Foreign Policy
From the National Bureau of Asian Research, an Asia Insight miniseries examining the future of foreign policy through the lens of emerging leadership in South and Southeast Asia.
This fifth episode features Dr. Ann Marie Murphy of Seton Hall University sitting down with Dr. Gregory Raymond and Mr. Thapiporn Suporn to discuss Thailand’s emerging generation of political leaders and the factors influencing their foreign policy outlooks from Bangkok.
To view the project webpage, visit https://www.nbr.org/program/next-generation-of-leaders-in-south-and-southeast-asia/.
Dr. Gregory Raymond is an Associate Professor in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre in the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. His written commentary can be viewed at https://www.nbr.org/publication/who-will-lead-in-thailands-entrenched-authoritarian-political-order/.
Mr. Thapiporn Suporn is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Khon Kaen University International College. His written commentary can be viewed at https://www.nbr.org/publication/navigating-perfect-storms-thailands-foreign-policy-outlook-under-a-new-generation-of-leadership/.
36 min
July 10 Revisiting China’s Digital Strategy
From July 16–29, 2026, China will host the APEC Digital Weeks in Chengdu, bringing together policymakers and technology leaders to discuss the future of the digital economy and artificial intelligence across the Asia-Pacific.
With that as the backdrop, today’s Asia Insight features NBR Senior Director of Research and Programs Doug Strub sitting down with NBR Nonresident Fellows Nigel Cory and Emily de La Bruyère to revisit NBR’s China’s Digital Ambitions project and the March 2022 special report, China’s Digital Ambitions: A Global Strategy to Supplant the Liberal Order. Together, they look at how China’s digital strategy has evolved, what it means for technology governance in the region, and why these questions remain so important today.
Nigel Cory is a Nonresident Fellow at NBR and is a Director with Crowell Global Advisors.
Emily de La Bruyère is a Nonresident Fellow at NBR and is co-founder of Horizon Advisory.
Doug Strub is Senior Director of Research and Programs at NBR.
33 min
July 01 Next in Line: Malaysia’s Rising Leaders and Foreign Policy
From the National Bureau of Asian Research, an Asia Insight miniseries examining the future of foreign policy through the lens of emerging leadership in South and Southeast Asia.
This fourth episode features Dr. Ann Marie Murphy of Seton Hall University sitting down with Dr. Nur Shahadah Jamil and Ms. Ariel Tan to discuss Malaysia’s emerging generation of political leaders and the factors influencing their foreign policy outlooks from Kuala Lumpur.
To view the project webpage, visit https://www.nbr.org/program/next-generation-of-leaders-in-south-and-southeast-asia/.
Dr. Nur Shahadah Jamil is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her written commentary can be viewed at https://www.nbr.org/publication/the-future-of-malaysian-foreign-policy-in-an-era-of-u-s-china-competition/.
Ms. Ariel Tan is a Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the Malaysia Programme at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Her written commentary can be viewed at https://www.nbr.org/publication/malaysias-foreign-policy-structural-stability-amid-geopolitical-shifts/.
37 min
June 20Documenting China’s Borderlands – Episode 9: On Edge: Security at China’s Borderlands
From the National Bureau of Asian Research, an Asia Insight miniseries exploring the geostrategic significance of China’s borderlands, led by Nadège Rolland, Distinguished Fellow for China Studies at NBR.
Episode Nine: On Edge: Security at China’s Borderlands
This ninth episode unpacks how the concept of “comprehensive national security” has been shaping China’s new security posture in its borderland regions. Understanding traditional and non-traditional security as deeply interwoven leads to greater latitude for security projection abroad. The conversation focuses on the evolution of China’s attempts to address security concerns in its proximate periphery and zooms in on its approach to addressing transnational organized crime.
With Carla P. Freeman (Johns Hopkins SAIS), Shibani Mathani (freelance investigative journalist, former Washington Post bureau chief), and Martin Thorley (Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime).
Materials cited or referenced in the recording
Xi Jinping, 坚持总体国家安全观走中国特色国家安全道路 [Uphold the Holistic Approach to National Security and Follow the Path of National Security with Chinese Characteristics] (Remarks at the first meeting of the Central National Security Commission) April 16, 2014, https://cpc.people.com.cn/n/2014/0416/c64094-24900492.html.
Xi Jinping, “New Asian Security Concept for New Progress in Security Cooperation” (Remarks at the Fourth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia) May 21, 2014, https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/xw/zyjh/202405/t20240530_11340721.html.
U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, “China’s Exploitation of Scam Centers in Southeast Asia,” July 18, 2025, https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/Chinas_Exploitation_of_Scam_Centers_in_Southeast_Asia.pdf.
Martin Thorley, “Evolution of the State-Crime Nexus: Presenting Geocriminality,” Journal of Illicit Economies and Development 8 No.1, 2026.
Martin Thorley, “A Changing Landscape: China’s New Model of Global Governance and its Impact on the Fight against Organized Crime,” GI-TOC, May 2024.
Shibani Mahtani, Christian Shepherd, Pei-Lin Wu, “China Cultivated High-Rolling Crime Families Before Turning on Them,” The Washington Post, June 21, 2024.
“How The Post Investigated Brutal Scam Compounds in Myanmar,” The Washington Post, June 18, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/how-the-post-investigated-brutal-scam-compounds-in-myanmar/2024/06/18/ddfc9500-fd68-4aee-ac17-e8871a334ed4_video.html.
"Beyond Boundaries: The Chinese Party-State and Geocriminality in Southeast Asia," GI-TOC, June 2026 https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Beyond-boundaries-The-Chinese-party-state-and-geocriminality-in-South-East-Asia-GI-TOC-June-2026.pdf.
Additional Recommended Readings
Carla Freeman, Bates Gill, and Alison McFarland, “China’s Global Security Initiative Takes Shape in Southeast and Central Asia,” USIP Special Report No.534, November 2024.
Selina Ho, Xue Gong, Carla P. Freeman, “China’s Interventions in ‘Gray Special Economic Zones’ in Southeast Asia’s Borderlands,” Journal of Contemporary China 35, No.159, 2025.
Shibani Mahtani, Christian Shepherd and Pei-Lin Wu, “China Cultivated High-Rolling Crime Families Before Turning on Them," The Washington Post, June 21, 2024.
Simon Menet, “Policing Beyond Borders: China’s Law-Enforcement Expansion in the Mekong Region,” Borderlands, September 17, 2025.
Wang Junsheng [王俊生] “Strategic Innovation in China’s Diplomacy Toward its Periphery in the New Era : Historical Lessons and Practical Direction,” [新时期中国周边外交战略创新：历史镜鉴与务实方向] Journal of Renmin University No.1, 2026.
Hoang Thi Ha, “China’s Statecraft through the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation: Building a Sino-Centric Regional Order,” Borderlands, November 13, 2025.
Nadège Rolland (Ed.) “Securing the Belt and Road Initiative: China’s Evolving Military Engagement Along the Silk Roads,” NBR Special Report No.80, September 3, 2019.
37 min
June 16 Asia Policy at 20: Bridging Scholarship and Policymaking
2026 marks 20 years of Asia Policy, NBR’s peer-reviewed scholarly journal presenting policy-relevant academic research on the Asia-Pacific that draws clear and concise conclusions useful to today’s policymakers.
This Asia Insight episode features NBR President Michael Wills in conversation with two members of the Asia Policy Editorial Board, Dr. Mike Green and Dr. Jessica Chen Weiss, on what bridging the gap between the academic and policy worlds looks like in practice and what it takes for research to truly inform policymaking on Asia today.
Mike Green is Professor and Chief Executive Officer at the United States Studies Centre in Sydney, Australia. He is a member of the Asia Policy Editorial Board at NBR.
Jessica Chen Weiss is the David M. Lampton Professor of China Studies and the inaugural Faculty Director of the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Asia Policy Editorial Board at NBR.
Michael Wills is President of NBR.
34 min
May 30 Next in Line: Sri Lanka’s Rising Leaders and Foreign Policy
From the National Bureau of Asian Research, an Asia Insight miniseries examining the future of foreign policy through the lens of emerging leadership in South and Southeast Asia.
This third episode features Dr. Christopher Clary of the University at Albany sitting down with Dr. Rajni Gamage and Dr. Bhagya Senaratne to discuss Sri Lanka’s emerging generation of political leaders and the factors influencing their foreign policy outlooks from Colombo.
To view the project webpage, visit https://www.nbr.org/program/next-generation-of-leaders-in-south-and-southeast-asia/.
Dr. Rajni Gamage is a Research Fellow in the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. Her written commentary can be viewed at https://www.nbr.org/publication/tracking-the-next-generation-of-leaders-in-sri-lanka/.
Dr. Bhagya Senaratne is the inaugural Director of Education at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies in Sri Lanka. Her written commentary can be viewed at https://www.nbr.org/publication/sri-lankas-next-generation-of-leaders-shaping-the-future-of-foreign-policy/.
37 min
May 20Documenting China’s Borderlands – Episode 8: Arteries of Power
From the National Bureau of Asian Research, an Asia Insight miniseries exploring the geostrategic significance of China’s borderlands, led by Nadège Rolland, Distinguished Fellow for China Studies at NBR.
Episode Eight: Arteries of Power
This eighth episode of the Borderlands podcast miniseries explores one of the most visible manifestations of China’s growing engagement with its neighbors—infrastructure development—and considers whether transportation, telecommunication, and energy infrastructure function not just as conduits to transfer people and goods but also as channels of state influence and generators of strategic advantages.
With Jessica C. Liao (U.S. Army War College), Timothy S. Oakes (University of Colorado Boulder), and Shinji Yamaguchi (Japan National Institute for Defense Studies).
Materials cited or referenced in the recording
Richard Louis Edmonds, “The Legacy of Sun Yat-sen’s Railway Plans,” China Quarterly, no. 111 (1987).
Thomas Bird, “Tracing the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway,” Los Angeles Review of Books, April 10, 2020.
Jean-François Rousseau, “An Imperial Railway Failure: The Indochina-Yunnan Railway, Journal of Transport History 35, no.1 (2014).
"习近平在“加强互联互通伙伴关系”东道主伙伴对话会上的讲话" [Xi Jinping Speech at the Dialogue on Strengthening Connectivity Partnership] November 8, 2014, https://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2014-11/08/c_127192119.htm.
Shinji Yamaguchi, “Creating ‘Facts on the Mountains’: China’s Gray Zone Playbook in the Himalayas,” Institute for Security and Development Policy, Issue Brief, August 29, 2025.
Galen Murton, “Strategic Spaces of the Sino-Nepali Borderlands: Making and Breaking Trans-Himalayan Trade Relations,” NBR, Borderlands Project, April 15, 2026, https://strategicspace.nbr.org/strategic-spaces-of-the-sino-nepali-borderlands-making-and-breaking-trans-himalayan-trade-relations.
“President Xi Jinping: Why I Proposed the Belt and Road,” CGTN, May 12, 2017, https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d596a4d31677a4d/index.html.
Additional Recommended Readings
Jessica C. Liao and Zenel Garcia, “How China Reinvented the BRI,” Foreign Policy, April 3, 2026.
Jessica C. Liao and Zenel Garcia, “China Is Squeezing Southeast Asia,” Foreign Affairs, March 24, 2026.
Timothy S. Oakes, “The National New Area as an Infrastructure Space: Urbanization and the New Regime of Circulation in China,” China Quarterly, no. 255 (2023).
Timothy S. Oakes, “Global China and Infrastructure Power: The Technopolitics of the ‘China Model’ of Development’,” Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs 10, no. 85 (2024).
Cai Penghong, 蔡鹏鸿, “互联互通战略与中国国家安全——基于地缘政治视角的互联互通” [The Connectivity Strategy and China’s National Security—Connectivity from a Geopolitical Perspective], Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, August 26, 2015.
Mao Weizhun 毛维准 and Ma Yunfei马赟菲 ,“互联互通的地缘政治：大国基础设施竞争的行为逻辑” [The Geopolitics of Connectivity: The Behavioral Logic of Great Power Infrastructure Competition,” Foreign Affairs Review 5 (2024).
35 min
April 30 Next in Line: Indonesia’s Rising Leaders and Foreign Policy
From the National Bureau of Asian Research, an Asia Insight miniseries examining the future of foreign policy through the lens of emerging leadership in South and Southeast Asia.
This second episode features Dr. Ann Marie Murphy of Seton Hall University sitting down with Dr. Leonard Sebastian and Mr. Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma to discuss Indonesia's emerging generation of political leaders and the factors influencing their foreign policy outlooks from Jakarta.
To view the project webpage, visit https://www.nbr.org/program/next-generation-of-leaders-in-south-and-southeast-asia/.
Dr. Leonard Sebastian is a Senior Fellow at the Indonesia Programme, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. His written commentary can be viewed at https://www.nbr.org/publication/how-indonesias-next-generation-will-navigate-u-s-china-competition/.
Mr. Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma is a Researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, Indonesia. His written commentary can be viewed at https://www.nbr.org/publication/indonesias-next-generation-foreign-policy-outlook-in-a-fragmenting-global-order/.

28 min

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Podcasts from The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) covering the critical issues that leaders need to understand – because the decisions they make matter and the stakes are high.