“Dalifornication” is the kind of phrase that sticks because it captures a cultural mood as much as a place. The Economist’s recent description of young Chinese “Dalifornia dreamin’” has turned the ancient city of Dali in Yunnan into shorthand for a broader economic and social shift. Once a quiet refuge for backpackers, Dali now swells […]

Visitors arriving at the Cangjie Temple in Baishui county often find themselves confronting an unlikely symbol of endurance: a cypress so enormous and timeworn that its bark seems to peel in geological layers. Local tradition holds that Cangjie—the semi-mythical inventor of Chinese characters—planted it himself. Whether or not that story is literal hardly matters; the […]

While much of the world leans toward protectionism, Asia is quietly redrawing its trade map. The newly signed ASEAN-China Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol—sealed in Kuala Lumpur on October 28—signals how the region plans to keep growth alive even as global walls go up. For the Philippines, this isn’t just another acronym in the […]

In a world where tensions run high and differences often dominate headlines, the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) offers a vision of connection, dialogue, and cooperation among nations. Rather than focusing on conflict, it emphasizes the richness of cultural diversity, the value of learning from one another, and the importance of working together to address common […]

In the South China Sea, diplomacy is often as turbulent as the waters themselves. Now, the Philippines wants to calm the storm with a legally binding Code of Conduct. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has vowed to make this his regional legacy, pushing for rules that would prevent collisions at sea, halt island-building, and draw a […]

For the Philippines, the South China Sea is both a vital resource and a recurring flashpoint. Its reefs and shoals are not only rich fishing grounds but also gateways for energy exploration and global shipping. Yet the disputes that play out there are not driven only by geography or resources. They are fueled by a […]

Vietnam’s accelerating maritime construction in the South China Sea is shifting the balance of power in one of the world’s most contested waterways, with direct consequences for the Philippines as it confronts increasingly assertive Chinese actions in waters it claims. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported on August 22 that satellite images […]

When China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft made history last year by retrieving the first lunar samples from the Moon’s far side, it was widely celebrated as a technical milestone and a geopolitical statement of Beijing’s growing space ambitions. Yet buried in a recent paper by Chinese engineers is a striking detail: the Philippines, a much smaller power […]

The Philippines — long a supplier of raw mineral-rich soil — is finding itself in the crosshairs of a brewing U.S.-China struggle over the rare earths that power modern technology and weapons systems. The shift came into focus on July 10 in Kuala Lumpur, when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met his Philippine counterpart […]

With a population barely topping 28,000, Arxan would seem an unlikely player in regional politics. Yet this remote city in Inner Mongolia has reinvented itself from a timber hub into a cross-border showcase for China’s soft power — leveraging eco-tourism, wellness culture, and reforestation diplomacy to deepen ties with neighboring Mongolia. The transformation began when […]