Newsletter By 2025-10-31
In a recent
article published in the
Diplomat Magazine,
ANBOUND’s founder Kung Chan noted that for China, navigating the evolving landscape of great power relations requires a thoughtful and strategic approach. He proposes the new international relations theory called “Balance, Cooperation, Existence” (BCE) that could serve as both a guiding framework and a strategic approach for it to interact with other great powers. The “Balance” component emphasizes the need for interdependence and mutual benefits in areas such as trade, industry, and regional interests. This requires both give-and-take, ensuring that all parties stand to gain. The “Cooperation” aspect stresses the importance of regional collaboration as a foundation for broader cooperation on specific issues. Crucially, cooperation is the key to maintaining peace and facilitating competition without leading to total breakdowns in great power relations. Finally, “Existence” underscores the importance of maintaining sovereignty and independence by avoiding entangling alliances that could compromise a nation’s interests.
Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s policy stance reflects a predictable dual logic: assertiveness when domestic or alliance politics require it, and pragmatism when economic interests are at stake, discussed
Zhou Chao, a Research Fellow for Geopolitical Strategy programme at ANBOUND and
ANBOUND’s founder Kung Chan. On a deeper level, Takaichi's political trajectory may initiate a gradual process of "Asian Rebalancing". This means that Japan, while maintaining its alliance, will increasingly pursue strategic autonomy and regional leadership to gain more maneuvering space amid U.S.-China competition. Although this trend may not be immediately apparent, it could shape the direction of the East Asian geopolitical landscape over the next decade.
>>【Present Value】 Philadelphia is no stranger to big sporting events. Over the next year, it will be preparing for some of the largest professional sporting events in the world, including the FIFA World Cup, Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, and the 2026 PGA Championship. These events bring more than just competition and excitement; they also generate meaningful economic impacts for the region. Together, these events are expected to generate over a billion dollars in economic activity for Philadelphia in 2026. With the 250th anniversary of American independence and a full schedule of events and exhibitions on the horizon, 2026 will offer visitors countless reasons to come to Philadelphia. Thousands of jobs will be supported, hotels will be full, and millions of visitors will pour into the city. Hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments can expect surges in bookings and sales, while SEPTA and Philadelphia International Airport will see a spike in passengers using transit and airport services. The anticipated economic impact extends beyond ticket sales and concessions. Every time a visitor books a hotel room, eats at a restaurant, takes public transit, or shops at a local business, they contribute to Philadelphia’s growing economy,
noted Lauren Anderson, research assistant at ESI.
China’s 15th Five-Year Plan framework unveiled at the Fourth Plenum places “high-quality development” at its core, continuing the shift from quantitative to qualitative growth begun under the 14th Plan. Technology, particularly autonomous innovation, assumes a central role, while greater emphasis is placed on sustainability, flexibility, and long-term development over the next five years, in the opinion of
Wei Hongxu, Senior Economist of China Macro-Economy Research Center at ANBOUND, in his
article published in
The Diplomat .
Ordos, a coal-rich northern Chinese city that never took off after prices crashed in 2012, has attracted more than a dozen autonomous vehicle companies seeking risk-free testing environments. The city holds one-sixth of China’s coal reserves, providing the heavy cargo that now trains its fleet of autonomous trucks.“Being able to be known as an autonomous driving city has become an extremely valuable brand,”
Liu Lidan, a Research Fellow for Urban Development Policy programme at Anbound, told
Rest of World. “It represents hundreds of billions of investment opportunities and helps the city to attract investment and talent.”
Driven by geopolitical dynamics, the global system of cross-border production and supply chains is no longer merely a tool for cost optimization. Instead, it has split into two parallel structures: the strategic supply chain and the corporate supply chain. The strategic supply chain, primarily managed under state leadership, features a distributed configuration and extends far beyond the traditional scope of corporate production and distribution. It has become an integral component of international trade, implemented through each nation's strategic industries, and is directly tied to the stability and prosperity of national economies, even serving as a powerful instrument of trade leverage, writes
Xia Ri, Industry Researcher at ANBOUND.
>>The wave of economic contraction has dampened middle-class enthusiasm for elite education. Yet the decline of elite education is not a failure of education itself, but rather the natural consequence of its distortion into a vehicle for social mobility. On one hand, this shift reveals the financial vulnerability of middle-class families; on the other, it compels them to reexamine the true purpose of education. Before this redefinition can fully take hold, many families must endure the painful process of budgetary adjustment, struggling between what to abandon and what to preserve, in search of a new balance, analyzed
He Yan, a researcher at ANBOUND.
>>
