China’s advances in reusable rocket technology are narrowing the U.S. lead in launch capabilities and intensifying competition across the global space industry. As China develops a lower-cost launch ecosystem, the implications could extend from satellite deployment and commercial markets to the broader strategic balance in U.S.-China space competition.

To dominate supply chains, the Trump administration is weaponizing the global AI race, even at the expense of catastrophic risks.

As AI models gain the ability to rewrite their own code and train their successors, the link between capability and autonomy makes them increasingly difficult to control, with future outcomes ranging from a carefully managed revolution to society fundamentally reshaping. It’s imperative that China and the U.S. move beyond traditional diplomacy and take cooperation on AI governance seriously.

At the heart of the matter is a growing gap between Europe’s ability to control its own security and the pace of external change. The Ukraine crisis has reshaped Europe’s assumptions about war and peace. Its future comfort will depend on its ability to prevent crises even as it prepares to confront them.

Against the backdrop of China-U.S. competition in AI, China-ASEAN cooperation can offer regional countries more practical help in navigating the competitive landscape with greater confidence.

Europe has not turned away from NATO; rather, it is using NATO as a foundation on which to weave an increasingly dense network of “minilateral” security arrangements. This network is both a product of the war in Ukraine and the reallocation of transatlantic responsibilities, and a continuation of Europe's longstanding tradition of security cooperation.

The recent Xi-Trump summit produced a modest but telling outcome on artificial intelligence. An agreement was arrived at to establish a bilateral communication channel for AI-related incidents, with further dialogue scheduled.

The U.S.-China AI rivalry is being reshaped by the rapid advance of frontier models and a widening divide between U.S.-led closed systems and China’s increasingly competitive open-weight ecosystem. As AI systems become more autonomous and capable, the race for technological leadership is creating risks that traditional diplomacy and governance mechanisms may be increasingly ill-equipped to manage.

As voices questioning artificial intelligence grow louder in the United States, the deeper concerns behind them touch political nerves. AI could well become a new dividing line in the American political spectrum, much like gun control and abortion.

South-South cooperation provides avenues for countries to extract greater dividends from existing capabilities by pooling resources, sharing implementation lessons and building more context-appropriate AI systems.