Strategic Technologies

As the new Trump administration formulates its China strategy, defining clear end states will be essential to avoid a reactive or incoherent approach. A long-term rivalry with a peer competitor like China demands more than tactical responses—it requires a...

Flowing from Tibet, the Lancang River goes through twelve Chinese megadams before reaching Laos as the Mekong River, a crucial freshwater source in Southeast Asia. A hydropower map from the Stimson Center shows 209 hydropower dams completed or under...

Executive Takeaway China’s Civil-Military Fusion (CMF; 军民融合) strategy, combined with its artificial intelligence (AI)–driven cognitive warfare (认知战) capabilities, aims to offset the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA; 中国人民解放军) lack of modern combat experience by using big data, social control mechanisms,...

The explosive growth of development along the Mekong river since 1995 has produced an estimated 167 hydropower plants, with eleven mainstream facilities on the way in Laos, Cambodia, and along the Laos-Thailand border. With its electricity generating capacity projected...

The mighty Mekong River, a life source for millions across Southeast Asia, now faces an existential threat. An ambitious regional plan developed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) incorporates the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) as...

Since 2014, the People’s Republic of China has been developing a digital currency called the digital yuan—also known as e-yuan, e-CNY, digital renminbi, or digital RMB. This new technology provides an array of options for overseeing China’s colossal and...