Independent Thinking: How closely is China watching the US?

Yu Jie, William Matthews and David Lubin join guest host Ben Bland to discuss the view from China now that Donald Trump is in charge.

As the EU publishes a new white paper on reforming defence, there are clear priorities to make Europe a stand-alone military power.

The event, the second in a series held at Japan House in London, discussed the impact of President Trump’s new administration on Japanese domestic politics and foreign policy.

The Houthis are the one member of the Axis of Resistance that grew stronger over the last year. But airstrikes will not deter their attacks on Red Sea shipping or influence Tehran.

While many in the region were unperturbed by his election, the US president’s disruptive approach threatens the open and predictable world in which Southeast Asia has flourished.

Washington wants to secure Ukraine’s valuable raw materials in a headline-grabbing deal, but a joint partnership with the EU and Kyiv is mutually beneficial in the long term.

Haid Haid, Rim Turkmani and Lina Khatib join the podcast to discuss Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa and the fighting in Syria’s Alawite region.

The E3 and Tehran have no better option than re-engaging. Failing to do so risks movement towards a weaponized nuclear programme, military escalation, or both.

Ukraine has agreed to a ceasefire in principle. But conflicts often intensify when a pause in fighting is being negotiated.

Anxieties over US threats to stop protecting the continent are prompting various proposals to reinforce Europe’s deterrence posture – but many of these have serious flaws.

With China’s large trade surplus likely to remain intact and the Trump administration aiming to turn the US trade deficit into a surplus, the world is facing a ‘clash of mercantilisms’.

Beijing still intends to oppose Washington by presenting itself as a source of stability and a champion of the Global South. But it remains unclear how it will transform words into action.

Most of the 56,000 people who live on the island don’t want to be under the control of Denmark or President Trump – but we must seek consensus and plan carefully before any referendum, writes Aka Hansen.

The former Netherlands defence minister says that Donald Trump’s actions are raising doubts about the US commitment to NATO – in response, Europe must turn its plans to release an extra €800 billion for defence spending into swift action.

Leena Koni Hoffmann tells Sara Seth why ‘integrity role models’ are key to ending a cycle that hurts the poorest most.

Sharing British climate policy know-how could help the world’s largest emitter decarbonize faster. But the UK government must find the political courage to collaborate, writes Chris Aylett.

A potted selection of reviews from our sister journal ‘International Affairs’, by its book reviews editor Mariana Vieira.

The leader of Israel’s left-wing opposition Democrats party tells Yossi Mekelberg why Trump’s plan for Gaza won’t work, the importance of working with Arab nations and why Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to prolong the 17-month war.

The director of Chatham House’s new Centre for Global Governance and Security on the shift to more ‘transactional’ global relations, civilian suffering in the Donbas and why the era of western dominance is over.

Christopher Bobyn meets the Japanese who spend their spare time reimagining a complicated Second World War legacy and asks how the country’s imperial memories touch on its future.

Disagreements between high- and lower-income countries have left the pandemic preparedness treaty in intensive care. The prescription? Developing nations can look to each other for health equity, writes Ebere Okereke.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have made big changes to their social media platforms. Carl Miller and Alex Krasodomski consider the geopolitical implications of a fragmenting online ‘public square’.

Finland, Sweden and their neighbours have much to teach the UK about ‘total defence’ and building societal resilience to Russian ‘grey zone’ warfare, writes Robin Potter.

The low-cost chatbot could herald an era of affordable public-sector AI – but governments may need to weigh the potential political costs, writes Chris Stokel-Walker.

A secret CIA operation spent decades flooding the Eastern Bloc with banned literature – nowhere more successfully than Poland in the 1980s, writes Charlie English.

Interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has said that bringing together former rebels, ex-regime soldiers and Kurdish forces into a national military is crucial. But worsening domestic security, opaque decision-making and regional politics may trip him up, writes Rahaf Aldoughli.

Among the many stories in the spring issue of ‘The World Today’, we explore how the Middle East is being redrawn and take stock of Trump’s whirlwind first 50 days in power.

Impeachment proceedings against Yoon Suk Yeol mean a pause on the South Korean president’s effective foreign policy and further opportunity for North Korea’s leader to increase his regime’s nuclear capabilities, warns Edward Howell.

Victory for Civic Coalition-backed candidate in May would end the government’s legislative deadlock with hardline president, writes Iona Allan.

In a whirlwind start, the new US president has shaken America’s executive branch, European security, the liberal international order and global economics. Chatham House experts analyse the impact – and what comes next.