Welcome to the latest issue of Diplomat Brief. This week our top story explores Xi Jinping’s effort to rewrite the history of China’s “reform and opening.” We also have an interview with Edward Lemon, president of the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, on recent attacks targeting Chinese nationals in Tajikistan. |
|
|
|---|
|
 | | In November 2025, Beijing staged a political spectacle that baffled many outside observers: a lavish commemoration marking the 110th anniversary of the birth of Hu Yaobang, the former Communist Party general secretary, widely remembered as the most liberal figure in the CCP’s modern history. But don’t be fooled. Xi Jinping, China's current leader, is not signaling an embrace of the reforms Hu championed – which included calls for party-government separation and tolerance for dissent. Instead, Xi is using Hu as a tool to rewrite the history of China’s “reform and opening” era, both stripping it of the political elements of reform and undermining Deng Xiaoping’s stature as the embodiment of this period of China’s history. “The true signal emanating from this political séance,” concludes Youlun Nie, is that “the current leadership possesses sufficient political confidence to appropriate any historical figure – even once-sensitive ones – to serve its contemporary agenda.” | Find out more |
|
|
|---|
|
| Videos |  |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| Our YouTube channel, Diplomat Asia, explains major topics and trends in the Asia-Pacific in video form. Check out our latest video on Uzbekistan’s two eras, President Mirziyoyev’s attempts at reform, and how Uzbekistan fits into a dynamic and geopolitically important region. | Watch the video |
|
|
|---|
|
| Behind The News |  |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | Edward Lemon – president of the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs and a research assistant professor at The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, Washington D.C. – on the implications of two recent attacks that killed Chinese workers in Tajikistan: “If the recent incidents become a pattern and we see more Chinese workers targeted, this will force China to place more pressure on the Tajik and Afghan governments to ensure security and could result in more security assistance and Chinese private security companies expanding their presence in both countries.” | |
|
|
|---|
|
| | Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over an enlarged plenary session of the Workers’ Party of Korea. These year-end meetings have become routine, but this year’s held special significance: it's the final party meeting before the big WPK National Congress, expected sometime in early 2026. Kim Jong Un has made the party congress a regular event, occurring once every five years to set the country’s agenda for the next half-decade. Next year’s Ninth Party Congress will set out Pyongyang’s foreign policy, economic, and security agenda through 2031 – and decide the prospects for any sort of diplomacy between North Korea and the U.S. or South Korea. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| | The September 2025 uprising that drove Nepal’s government from office was heavily driven by corruption concerns. Three months later, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Nepal’s chief anti-corruption watchdog, filed a landmark corruption case against 55 individuals and a Chinese company in relation to the construction of the Pokhara International Airport. The airport has been dogged by suspicions of corruption since its launch, with many believing the bidding was rigged to favor the Chinese firm and the price – $216 million – was inflated to line the pockets of politicians and contractors involved. An April 2025 report found over $100 million in funds were either misappropriated or unaccounted for, yet no formal legal investigation was launched – until the Gen Z uprising. Now Pokhara is at the center of Nepal’s biggest public procurement corruption case. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| | The border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand has entered its second week, as attempts at outside mediation failed to restore an earlier ceasefire. The fighting broke out under disputed circumstances on December 7. Since then, the conflict has expanded to nearly every sector of the two nations’ 817-kilometer shared border, from the Gulf of Thailand in the west to the tri-border junction with Laos in the east. Around half a million people on both sides of the border have since been displaced by the fighting, and at least 30 confirmed dead, with no end to the fighting in sight. Cambodia has expressed support for a return to the ceasefire, but Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, under fire for his government’s handling of devastating floods in southern Thailand, will be reluctant to appear to be overly weak on the border issue as the nation moves toward a snap general election on February 8. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| | Although Japan has long had a C5+1 format at the ministerial level, Tokyo is getting in on the the leader-level summit game with a gathering scheduled for December 19. As with other states engaging Central Asia in this way – like the United States and China – energy security, critical minerals, connectivity, and trade are top agenda items. Kazakhstan, in particular, is a leading connection for Japan and its multi-vector foreign policy means the door is open for deeper engagement. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| Podcasts |  |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| In the latest episode of “Beyond the Indus,” Christine Fair, a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, joins host Tushar Shetty to explore Pakistan’s failing Afghanistan strategy and the escalating TTP crisis. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| Visualizing APAC |  |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| |  |
| Palau’s President Surangel S. Whipps, Jr., spoke directly from the ocean floor in the world’s first underwater press conference with a head of state, Oct. 5, 2025. his goal was to draw attention to climate issues – an existential crisis for Palau, but one its main security ally dismisses as a “hoax.” | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
Comments
Post a Comment
Welcome to my geopolitics blog site. This is a Hawaii Island news site focusing on geopolitical news, analysis, information, and commentary. I will cite a variety of sources, ranging from all sides of the political spectrum.