Central Asia & Caucasus Data

The Group of Seven nations (G7) and the European Union are reportedly working together to try to reduce rare earth reliance on China after the country tightened its export controls for key minerals and related refinery technologies on October 9. Media reports said G7 countries and the EU are considering introducing price floors to guarantee profits The post G7, EU mull price floors over China’s rare earths curbs appeared first on Asia Times.

Under the AUKUS agreement, the US will build three nuclear-powered Virginia-class attack submarines for Australia. After the Trump Administration inherited the agreement from the Biden presidency, media reported in June 2025 that the new White House team would review AUKUS to determine whether or not it aligns with Trump’s “America First” agenda. Hearing this, prominent opponents The post AUKUS makes sense – except for the submarine deal appeared first on Asia Times.

China is racing to make the Western Pacific “transparent” to submarines—pitting its expanding seabed-to-space surveillance web against the stealthiest arm of US sea power. This month, Defense One reported that China is rapidly advancing its “Transparent Ocean” system, a five-layer seabed-to-space sensor network designed to render the Western Pacific “transparent” to submarine activity. Led by The post China’s AI sea grid aims to render US subs transparent appeared first on Asia Times.

In an era when ASEAN’s unity is often described more as symbolism than substance, the ASEAN Power Grid (APG) stands out as an ambitious vision that could finally bring tangible integration to Southeast Asia. Conceived more than two decades ago, the APG aims to connect the power systems of the ten ASEAN member states through The post Power grid offers a real shot at ASEAN integration appeared first on Asia Times.