This year’s NATO summit spotlighted two pivotal issues: the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the future of the Indo-Pacific region. But the approach was low-key. The primary concern seemed to be the stabilization of aid to Ukraine to shield it from a possible disruptive victory by Donald Trump, who could return to the White House.

Can an assassination attempt improve a candidate’s chances of winning an election? Taiwan’s experience suggests that it might. During its 2004 presidential election, polls showed then-President Chen Shui-bian trailing his opponent, Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) candidate Lien Chan. But this changed abruptly the day before the vote, when Chen and Vice President Annette Lu were shot during an election rally.

The unpredictable nature of Trump's China policy, influenced by his ideology, foreign policy team, and personal vendettas, makes it difficult to anticipate the direction of U.S.-China relations under a potential second Trump administration.

A victory by Donald Trump is an ugly prospect that most of the world shudders to contemplate. We’re not betting he’ll win in 2024 but are simply acknowledging that it’s possible and that instability is likely to follow. China cannot afford to wait until the last minute before taking action.

The outgoing U.S. president’s attempts to booby-trap his successor’s ability to improve relations with China is troublesome. It will take some time for the new occupant of the White House to stitch things together. But time is not unlimited.

Before he was US president, Donald Trump built a reality-television persona on the catchphrase, “You’re fired.” Now, the American people have fired him. And Trump’s defeat has also dealt a devastating blow to nationalist populists in Europe and elsewhere. Might it prove lethal?

Donald Trump’s tax return report is a bombshell even in the midst of a turbulent year. Within the numbers may lie the answers to some of Trump’s erratic decisions and outbursts.

When U.S. president Donald Trump addressed the United Nations in a pre-recorded speech, he continued his sabotage of everything the organization stands for. By contrast, President Xi Jinping was the adult in the room, making the case that major powers have major responsibility.

The US-China relationship has become characterized by tit-for-tat responses. In these hypercritical times, asymmetrical responses may be the only way to get these two countries back to the business of cooperative, civil relations.

It has been a calamity for the United States that, when two national tragedies – the COVID-19 crisis and the country’s legacy of racism – collided this spring, the occupant of the White House was an unstable person, totally unfit to govern.