The National Bureau of Asian Research

Nigel Cory is a Director with Crowell Global Advisors and a Nonresident Fellow at NBR. Emily de La Bruyère is a co-founder of Horizon Advisory and a Nonresident Fellow at NBR. Doug Strub is Senior Director of Research and Programs at NBR. About Asia Insight The NBR podcast series Asia Insight features interviews with top Asia experts about key issues affecting the Indo-Pacific region, with a focus on implications for U.S. policy and businesses.

Malaysia’s contemporary political landscape is marked by shifting coalitions, elite fragmentation, and ongoing institutional recalibration following a series of political transitions since 2018. Within this context, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim introduced the MADANI framework after assuming office in 2022, positioning it as a broader governance and nation-building agenda centered on sustainability, prosperity, innovation, respect, trust, and compassion.

Ann Marie Murphy is Professor at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, and 2019-2010 ASEAN Research Program Fulbright Scholar. Nur Shahadah Jamil is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Read her NBR commentary The Future of Malaysian Foreign Policy in an Era of U.S.-China Competition.

Since 2018, Malaysia has witnessed four dramatic government collapses and is only now enjoying a respite under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who took office after the November 2022 general election. The next general election is due by February 2028, but intra-coalition tensions could bring it forward. Anwar’s prospects for a second term are uncertain.

Since 2008, the People’s Republic of China has systematically employed “gray zone” tactics—activities that remain below the threshold of outright military armed conflict—in the East China Sea to challenge the status quo without triggering open conflict, beginning with the deployment of government vessels into the territorial waters of the Senkaku Islands (known as the Diaoyu Islands in China).

The National Bureau of Asian Research will offer the eighteenth iteration of its three-day executive education course on China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on September 15–17, 2026, in Washington, D.C. As part of China’s efforts to build a “world-class military” by 2049, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has undergone rapid modernization under General Secretary Xi Jinping.

This ninth episode in NBR’s Borderlands miniseries unpacks how the concept of “comprehensive national security” has been shaping China’s new security posture in its borderland regions. Understanding traditional and nontraditional security as deeply interwoven leads to greater latitude for security projection abroad.

Michael Wills in conversation with Michael Green and Jessica Chen Weiss Michael Green is Professor and Chief Executive Officer at the United States Studies Centre in Sydney, Australia. He is a member of the Asia Policy Editorial Board at NBR. Jessica Chen Weiss is the David M.

The strategic context for nuclear restraint in the Indo-Pacific has deteriorated significantly in the past decade.[1] Political and military trends have created an environment in which some U.S. allies may reconsider their nuclear forbearance.[2] Among these states, U.S. allies South Korea, Japan, and Australia possess a relatively high capability to develop and acquire nuclear weapons.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MAIN ARGUMENT Debates over nuclear issues in Japan appear to be driven by two major concerns. First, Japanese policy elites are increasingly concerned by the shifting nuclear landscape in the Indo-Pacific. A source of major concern is the “stability-instability paradox,” where China might believe that its expanded nuclear arsenal lowers the threshold for conventional aggression against Taiwan.