Southeast Asia has long been a foreign policy priority for Japan, but Tokyo has intensified its engagement - both with the ASEAN Commu­nity as a whole and with individual member states - since 2012. Japan views China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia as a major foreign policy challenge...

Driven by both political camps in Seoul, relations between South Korea and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have deepened significantly since their initiation in 2005. While this intensified relationship was shaped to a large extent by geopolitical developments and increasing...

Since the Korean War of 1950–53, the security architecture of the region previously referred to as the “Asia-Pacific” has been based on a US-led sys­tem of bilateral alliances known as the “hub-and-spokes” system. A multi­lateral system of collective defence, similar to NATO in...

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. won the Philippines’ presidential election by a land­slide on 9 May and was officially sworn in on 30 June. During the election cam­paign, Marcos Jr. - the son of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who was ousted in 1986 - remained extremely vague when...

Supporting regional integration processes within the context of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an integral component of Brussels’ strategic interest in South-East Asia. Hereby, Indonesia - regional primus inter pares and self-proclaimed driver of regional integration -...

Südostasien genießt schon lange außenpolitische Priorität in Japan, doch seit etwa 2012 hat Tokio sein Engagement intensiviert - sowohl gegenüber der ASEAN-Gemeinschaft als auch gegenüber einzelnen Mitgliedstaaten. Tokio betrachtet Chinas wachsenden Einfluss in Südostasien als zentrale...

Mitte Februar fanden in Indonesien die weltweit größten Wahlen statt - und das an einem einzigen Tag. Rund 205 Millionen Wahlberechtigte wurden an die Urnen gerufen, um einen neuen Präsidenten, einen neuen Vizepräsidenten sowie fast 20 000 Abgeordnete für das nationale Parlament, die...

The techno-geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States has intensified in recent years. Turkey's souring relations with the US over the past decade has prevented the former from reaping the spoils of the Sino-US tech war as an American ally. Ankara has its own ambitions in the...

Turkey's geopolitically motivated industrial and supply chain policy implies close ties to Germany as well as a security and economic policy orientation towards the EU. Ankara wants to bring production and sales into line with EU standards and establish a green high-tech and services economy....

Europe must take more responsibility for its defence, if necessary without the United States, given Washington’s volatility. In March 2025, the European Union (EU) launched a series of initiatives to strengthen defence industry and defence policy cooperation. With these new instruments also...