Author

Picture of AsiaCentre

AsiaCentre

Founded in 2005, Asia Centre is an independent research institute that holds debates and issues publications on matters relating to international, strategic, economic relations, as well as the political and social transformations underway in the Asia-Pacific region. At the crossroads of university research as well as public and private decision-making, Asia Centre researchers identify critical regional issues and analyse them in-depth, taking into consideration both local and global dimensions. Asia Centre’s programs are developed with a vast network of partners, companies and major specialist centres in Europe, North America and Asia. The Centre carries out joint operations with these groups, for a better interpretation of ideas and issues. The conclusions of these meetings, such as the results of the work carried out using original sources by our researchers, are widely distributed through the Centre’s publications as well as through international journals, books and media.

Other analyses

Taiwan cooking oil scandal: Why Isn’t Beijing Adding Fuel to the Fire? • Isabelle Feng

31 July 2026 No Comments

In this new piece, Isabelle Feng looks back at the tainted cooking oil scandal that has affected Taiwan for several weeks, and at Beijing’s measured response to the affair. She examines the protests held in Taipei on 25 July, the coverage of the event by Chinese state media, and reactions observed on Chinese social media. She puts this episode in perspective alongside the history of food safety scandals in mainland China and the question of freedom to protest on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Read More »

Strategy of ‘Parallels’: China in the South Sudanese armed Conflict

.PDF
jonas-moita-xYcq2_3p4YY-unsplash

Note n°14 de l’Observatoire de la Chine, par Obert Hodzi (post-doctoral researcher, University of Helsinki, Finland)

South Sudan, the newest country in Africa has seemingly become China’s test ground for its foreign policy and security strategies. The complexity of South Sudan’s war of independence and subsequent secession from the Sudan in 2011 tested China’s ability to turn a hostile relationship with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) into a mutually beneficial one.
The Juba-Khartoum conflict over oil transit fees resulting in oil production shutdown in 2012 challenged Beijing’s conflict mediation strategies and its ability to coordinate the volatile Beijing-Juba-Khartoum triangular relationship.
In addition, before Chinese oil companies recuperated from the oil production disruptions, or fully came to terms with the complexities of working with the two antagonistic Sudans in their interdependent oil sector, a civil war broke out between the South Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – In Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by former vice-president Riek Machar, further challenging China’s foreign policy and security strategies in Africa.

  • South Sudan’s strategic significance to China
  • Strategy of ‘parallels’
  • Principle versus pragmatism
  • Bilateralism and multilateralism
  • Mediation and Power Politics
asiacentre.eu