South Korea has recently proven atypically successful in straddling regional tensions involving China, but Beijing’s strained relations with Washington and its allies will sorely test Seoul’s pragmatic diplomacy in 2026.

As the Philippines assume the ASEAN chairmanship in 2026, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is seeking to de-escalate tensions with China while deepening defense cooperation with the United States and other partners amid rising frictions in the South China Sea. The strategy reflects Manila’s effort to bolster deterrence without undermining ASEAN consensus or provoking broader regional instability.

The most important question stemming from America’s intervention in Venezuela is not whether it violated international law and norms, but what it reveals about the future of the liberal international order. Contrary to what some commentators say, that order is not collapsing, since its core pillars remain in place and the alternatives to them are still weak. But sustaining it will now involve more frequent discretionary US actions, and it will become increasingly unclear where the thresholds for future interventions lie.

The U.S. kidnapping of President Maduro represents one of the worst violations of international law by a major power in decades. It also reflects the role of Venezuela as a battleground of U.S. and Chinese interests.

For China-U.S. relations today, the realistic question is not how to construct a G2 but how the two countries can find a workable mode of coexistence under conditions in which cooperation and competition can coexist.

Acquiring nuclear weapons would not only undermine the global nuclear non-proliferation framework but also deal a fundamental blow to the postwar international order—a prospect that must be met with deep concern and strong opposition from its allies and neighbors.

The American experiment will foster new realities through a low-cost, efficient model for connection nations. The Zangezur Corridor represents more than a transportation route. It is likely to become a crucial variable shaping the future geopolitical landscape.

For decades, Western multinationals and tech firms built Malaysia’s export base while China financed its railways, ports, and industrial zones -- a balance Kuala Lumpur managed with unusual ease. Now, rare-earth ambitions are pulling that equilibrium in new directions, intensifying debates at home over control, national interest, and how far neutrality can stretch.

Negotiations on Ukraine’s peace plan reveal more than technical differences. They show a calculation by all parties related to the cost of war, the capacity to endure over time and the sequencing of strategic priorities.

Europe’s dissatisfaction, anxiety and dependence will continue to shape the next stage of transatlantic relations. The rift may not lead to a break. But it will likely lead to a relationship that becomes ever more transactional, more realist and ultimately more fragile.