The Torch
Illuminating Security and Defence Issues
China
THE FINAL FRONTIER: CHINA’SAMBITIONS TO DOMINATE SPACE
13 December 2025
China has embarked on a whole-of-government strategy to be- come the world’s preeminent space power. Beijing views space as a warfighting domain and it seeks to achieve space superiority as a cornerstone of its broader effort to establish information domi- nance—a prerequisite to controlling the battlespace and gaining operational advantage in future conflicts. To this end, China has rapidly developed, deployed, and operationalized advanced capa- bilities in space launch, satellites, and ground-based infrastruc- ture spanning its civil, military, and commercial sectors. These advancements are closing the gap in the strategic competition between the United States and China in space....
China’s Aircraft Carrier Capability Just Made A Stunning Leap Forward
12 November 2025
China has simultaneously debuted its J-35 stealth fighter, J-15T fighter and KJ-600 radar plane operating from its first catapult-equipped carrier.
China launches a controversial shipping route across the melting Arctic
13 October 2025
This sea route has been dismissed as too treacherous. China’s taking the risk.
The Rising Military Threat of China’s S&T and Innovation Programs
5 September 2025
Chinese President Xi Jinping is committed to making the People’s Republic of China (PRC) a global scientific and innovation leader by 2035. During a recent speech, Xi declared that “when our science and technology flourishes, our race flourishes, and when science and technology is strong, our nation is strong.” This strategic belief is reflected in China’s increasing investment in scientific development as its main path to surpass the West militarily.
Institute for the Study of War
THE STRENGTHENING CHINA-RUSSIA NEXUS
27 July 2025 -
The Sino-Russian relationship is closer and more interconnected in 2025 than it has ever been. The cooperation between Beijing and Moscow is a nexus—their relationship is a flexible and strategic knot of interconnections across the military, technological, economic, and political domains, and is not bounded by the structural rigidity of a formal defensive alliance. This Sino-Russian nexus has solidified against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
China’s geopolitical dominance game in the South China Sea
10 June 2025 -
For all the talk about the South China Sea’s complexity as a security issue, its geopolitical significance to China is simple: China wants to condition Southeast Asian states to subordinate status. Southeast Asian countries would do well to consider this when assessing Beijing’s motivations and behaviour.
China’s ‘Three Warfares’ Strategy in Action: Implications for the Sino-India Boundary, the Arctic, and Antarctica
20 May 2025
China’s ‘three warfares’ strategy (TWS)—understood as public opinion, psychological, and legal warfare—has received considerable attention, but most analyses focus on Beijing’s sovereign claim to Taiwan and its maritime claims in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. This occasional paper evaluates the manifestation of the TWS against India in Ladakh and China’s motivation for adopting the same approach in the Arctic and Antarctica. The paper also highlights the application of the TWS in geographical areas that were previously neglected or inadequately addressed to further policymakers’ understanding and response to the approach.
Factors Shaping the Future of China’s Military
26 March 2025
China is experiencing rapid demographic change as young people are making up an ever-smaller share of the population. At the same time, China is seeking to modernize the People's Liberation Army (PLA).