Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake - Napoleon Bonaparte The geo-political architecture of West Asia experienced a traumatic rupture in February 2026, when, in a joint military operation, the USA and Israel conducted airstrikes on Iran, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military and political actors in Tehran, plunging Washington and Tehran into a full-scale conflict. Illustration by The Geostrata Ignited by increasing rivalry bet

Over the past three decades, the strategic partnership between the People’s Republic of China and Pakistan has evolved from a transactional, opportunistic relationship into a deeply integrated and strategic, economic and geopolitical alignment. For Beijing, Islamabad serves as a crucial regional proxy, providing a geographic conduit to the Arabian Sea via the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and acting as a counterbalance to India’s regional hegemo

What if I told you, from today onwards, your name would be different, something similar, but not the same. It won’t be the one that you recognise and identify with, it won’t be the one you learned the meaning of, it won’t be the one you keep telling people when they ask you who you are. Why? Just because I have the right to. This right doesn’t stem from any legal or written source but purely from entitlement. Illustration by The Geostrata Now, read this, as slowly as you can,

When China deploys warships to the Taiwan Strait or when it funds a port in Hambantota or finances a railway through the Sahel, the world notices. But when Beijing rewires how populations think, what they fear, and who they trust, the world largely looks away. This is Cognitive Warfare, the world's most consequential battlefield of the 21st century, the one that's least understood. Illustration by The Geostrata China calls it ‘public opinion warfare,’ which is one of the thre

On April 23, 2026, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) commemorated the 77th founding anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), celebrating nearly eight decades of technological innovation and strategic reach that have defined its naval history since 1949. In the late 1970s, Deng Xiaoping’s reforms transformed China’s coast into an export- driven economic engine, making maritime security vital for national survival. Illustration by The Geostrata Following the

On 15th May, 2026, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is set to implement the most significant overhaul of its Drug Regulatory Framework in over two decades. Beijing signals a departure from its generic orientation of chemical drug production. This article analyses the technical mechanisms of the “Regulations for the Implementation of the Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China” (State Council Decree No. 828), the global pharmaceutical and geopolitical dri

The Popular opinion today is that the 2026 Middle East conflict between Israel, Iran, and the U.S.A has fundamentally destabilised the world’s largest oil importer, China. Contrary to this opinion, Beijing is rather successfully converting this systemic threat into its strategic advantage. While its regional peers in Asia face existential supply risks, China’s decade-long engineered resilience, anchored by 1.3 billion barrels of strategic petroleum reserves and alternative pi

The most recent round of military hostilities in the India-Pakistan conflict indicates a pattern of enduring hostility, suggesting that the focus remains on confrontation rather than attempting to reconcile past disagreements. The Indus Water Treaty (IWT ) remains one of the major flashpoints in their tenuous history. Illustration by The Geostrata Signed in 1960 to mediate disputes over the use of the Indus River System, the Treaty allocates limited non-consumptive rights

Held from the 4th of March, 2026 to the 12th, the “Two Sessions” , the annual meeting of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) — the People's Republic of China’s national legislative body — and the 4th session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s paramount political institution, marked a critical event in shaping Beijing’s agendas for the year 2026. Illustration by The Geostrata An estimated 5,000

INTRODUCTION: WHY THE SEA MATTERS In nuclear warfare, power hinges not only on the number of weapons that a state possesses, but also their ability to survive enemy attacks and remain effective for counterstrikes. This is where the ocean assumes a decisive role; unlike land-based missile-silos, which can be mapped and targeted, or aircraft’s dependence on vulnerable, visible bases, a nuclear-armed submarine — almost indefinitely concealed and mobile beneath thousands of metre

To understand feminist discourses as they emerge in Chinese cinema, we must begin with an examination of gender discourse in China. Traditionally, Chinese culture was dominated by Confucianism (an ancient Chinese philosophy and ethical system which emphasises social harmony, hierarchy, and duties within relationships), with its codification of social order according to age, gender, and family position. Illustration by The Geostrata A woman was expected to abide by the "Three

Jimmy Lai, the newspaper tycoon of Hong Kong, has been found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. This has once again brought the complex and contentious legal and political system of Hong Kong into the forefront. The fact that Lai was granted bail in the early stages of his trial, when the Hong Kong court granted him temporary bail, was seen as a display of the autonomy of the legal system in Hong Kong despite the political pressure from mainland China. Illustration

As BRI completes twelve years since being launched on the 7th of September, 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI ) is pivoting towards several strategic transformations in several important aspects, like the international engagements that it seeks to facilitate between its signatories. Illustration by The Geostrata Initially launched with the objective of ensuring deeper regional integration and cooperation between China and its neighbours, the Belt and Road Initiative

The Siliguri Corridor , a narrow strip of territory, connects mainland India to the entire northeastern region. Situated in northern West Bengal, infamously known as the ‘Chicken’s Neck’, it is India's most vital and vulnerable strategic location. The connectivity of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, and Sikkim with the rest of the country through road, railway, oil pipelines, power lines, as well as troop movement, depends on this corr

Myanmar represents far more than a neighbouring Southeast Asian nation to China; it is a strategically indispensable asset upon which Beijing has constructed an intricate system of economic, military, and political dependency. China, over the years, has increased its role in the nation, especially its hold in Myanmar, which has increased after the military coup of 2021. Illustration by The Geostrata The Chinese have made sure that Myanmar's dependency on them remains intact,

The Blue Shirt Regiment (BSS), also known as the Blue Shirts Society (Lanyishe 蓝衣社), was a nationalist paramilitary organisation in China. It emerged on March 1, 1932, as a faction within the Kuomintang (KMT), the Nationalist Party. The BSS was composed mainly of graduates from the Huangpu (Whampoa) Military Academy, young men aged twenty to thirty, many of whom had overseas education and had pledged unquestioned loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek. Illustration by The Geostrata Accor

The People's Republic of China, founded in 1949, has always had a thirst for power and dominance. In the beginning, while it was protecting and conquering lands, it left the coasts unguarded. A brutal mistake to commit. Illustration by The Geostrata It was only in the late 1970s that Deng Xiaoping's reforms transformed the coast into China’s economic engine. Exports and the presence of ports tied China’s survival to maritime security. Yet, by the 1990s, clashes in the South C

On Thursday, June 29, 2025, a striking video released by China's state broadcaster CCTV caught the attention of military analysts and policymakers worldwide. The video showcased an animated depiction of what appears to be a newly developed graphite bomb - nicknamed a "blackout bomb". This weapon, designed to cripple an adversary's power grid without causing direct physical destruction, underscores China's ongoing efforts to expand its arsenal of non-kinetic warfare tools. Ill

China’s assertion on Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls “Zangnan” (South Tibet), is based on historical ties to Tibet and a rejection of...

‘If China wants Tibet to stay with China, then China must create the necessary conditions for this. The time has come now for the Chinese...