The 2016 arbitral ruling on the South China Sea in favour of the Philippines continues to shape maritime governance and strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific.
The Communist Party of China (CPC), under the leadership of Xi Jinping, has been strengthening its ideological framework to increase its capacity for governance. This is crucial to the party system, as it increasingly believes it needs to respond to changes in the global order. Through ideological correction, in the form of Xi Jinping Thought, the party leadership believes it can better navigate a world in transition and emerge victorious. In other words, as the leadership theorises about the global order, elite politics under Xi Jinping is transforming. Xi is strengthening governance within both the party and state to respond to the global security order. This impacts elite politics as it navigates the changes within the Chinese political system.
The monograph aims to bring Chinese perspectives and debates to the analyses of military reform. It explores and analyses the way China has shaped its military power, to counter challenges to the great rejuvenation, and the drivers and motivations behind the implementation of military reforms. China’s association with military power and its relation to world-class military in the New Era are driven by its worldview and security perceptions. Therefore, the monograph elucidates the political framework for military reforms as it would help identify under what circumstances that military power would be utilised. Finally, it looks at the challenges that China is facing when building its military power and the implications for India.
China is building a strategic system to integrate all its national strategies and develop strategic capabilities to accelerate its economic and security goals.
US President Donald Trump’s visit to China from 13-15 May 2026 is taking place against the backdrop of intense trade and technological competition between the two countries.
Strengthening domestic demand, self-reliance in strategic technologies, and reassertion of political and ideological control over the PLA featured prominently in the 2026 Two Sessions.
To contest the discursive hegemony of the West, China has been striving to have a greater say in the way it is represented on the world stage. It is believed that China’s voice in international affairs is not commensurate with its increasing hard power. In this context, the article seeks to approach China’s quest for international discourse power from a three-fold framework: first, explore the concept of discourse power; second, assess the Chinese understanding of discourse power; and third, examine China’s efforts to enhance its discourse power with a special focus on the role of the Chinese State media.
