Why worry about China’s nuclear warheads?  

Unlike the other four nuclear powers in the treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, China has not disclosed the size of its arsenal and has increased its nuclear-capable weapons systems by roughly 25 percent in the past five years, according to the U.S. Defense Department. China deploys about 130 land-based ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads. There are six different types with differing ranges and payloads. (The Japan Times)

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What’s Next in Asia?   
   

As India and China continue their phenomenal growth on the world economic stage, the focus on these two key markets have seen a growth of Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and supporting industries moving to markets like Singapore and Hong Kong as gateways to North and South Asia. There has also been movement into newer, emerging markets like Vietnam and Indonesia where some are successfully riding the coattails of these more established markets. (PRNewswire)

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Tiananmen 2.0? Freedom is coming to China one way or another      
   

China's fierce crackdown of sporadic protests in recent weeks shows that Communist leaders there are watching the Arab uprisings with great anxiety. China would be wise to stay ahead of events by rolling out political reforms. (The Christian Science Monitor)

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The India-Indonesia strategic and trade partnership      
   

The visit of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as Chief Guest for India’s 2011 Republic Day Celebrations, lent much needed substance to the strategic partnership initiated by the two regional neighbours during his previous visit in 2005. India has signed a preferential merchandise trade agreement with ASEAN, of which Indonesia is a key member.       (East Asia Forum)

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Will ‘Chindia’ Rule the World in 2050, or America after all?   
   

With a small tweak in assumptions and the inexorable force of compound arithmetic, Citigroup and HSBC have come up with radically different pictures of what the world will look like in 2050. (The Telegraph)

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The exceptional Asian   

This Asian nation has a rich civilization but a troubled recent past. Its cultural genius has all too often been submerged by misguided rulers and foreign intervention. Increasingly integrated into circuits of global capital, having cracked the universal code of modernity, it is rapidly ascendant as an economic super-power. Having rebuilt itself out of the ashes of mass violence, and no longer a middling backwater, this Asian country demands world recognition. The west ignores it as a competitor and global player at its own peril. Which country are we speaking about? Not India in 2011, but Japan in 1970. (International Institute for Asian Studies)

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Jakarta’s leadership hinges on Thai-Cambodian Peace   

By hosting the informal ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting last week, the ASEAN chair, Indonesia, gave a historical lead that could gradually and tangibly transform the grouping into a true political and secure community. (The Nation)

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Jasmine Revolution and Social Stability in China   

The ‘Jasmine Revolution’ (JR) that began in Tunisia and spread like a prairie fire to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Jordan and  Oman etc. middle east dictatorial regimes has also made its reverberations felt in China and made the authorities jittery and nervous. The organizers of the JR are primarily overseas Chinese inciting the Chinese people to follow the JR suit in China, and demand freedom and democracy, political reforms and an end to the one party rule. (South Asia Analysis Group)

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China’s Search for a Grand Strategy   

Any country's grand strategy must answer at least three questions: What are the nation's core interests? What external forces threaten them? And what can the national leadership do to safeguard them? Whether China has any such strategy today is open to debate. On the one hand, over the last three decades or so, its foreign and defense policies have been remarkably consistent and reasonably well coordinated with the country's domestic priorities. On the other hand, the Chinese government has yet to disclose any document that comprehensively expounds the country's strategic goals and the ways to achieve them. For both policy analysts in China and China watchers abroad, China's grand strategy is a field still to be plowed.             (Foreign Affairs)

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