The Torch
Illuminating Security and Defence Issues
China
Expanding frontiers: how China normalises its presence
11 May, 2026
A major strategic shift in the Indo-Pacific is happening quietly: China’s presence in seas and ports far from its coast is becoming routine. The frequency of its appearances has been rising for about a decade. Now it’s approaching a point where China’s military presence has become normal and expected, not aggressive....
If we can’t name China’s cyberattacks, we lose trust in ourselves
8 April, 2026
In the space of just a few days, two big US tech companies took different approaches to China’s cyberattacks. Palo Alto Networks generically referred to a global cyber espionage operation by unnamed actors while Google specifically named China as the globe’s leading cyber security threat. That inconsistency hurts everyone but China.
Xi’s Purge: End of Collective Military Rule
10 March, 2026
Xi Jinping’s new Chairman Responsibility System ends collective military rule. The purge of top generals like Zhang Youxia cements absolute control over China’s armed forces.
It’s Time to Treat China’s Connected Energy Systems As a National Security Risk
2 February, 2026
Electric vehicles, batteries, wind turbines and solar panels (PV) are no longer just mechanical assets—they are smart, connected systems. Their performance, safety and resilience depend on tightly integrated hardware and software designed together from the outset. But the same connectivity that delivers efficiency in products, and benefits to consumers, also creates new exposures for governments....
US and Chinese tech research is decoupling—ASPI’s Critical Tech Tracker
4 January, 2026
Decoupling is well underway in critical technology research. A divide is emerging between China’s critical technology research ecosystem and that of the United States and its allies. The implication is clear: to varying degrees, policies adopted since late last decade to guard against China’s exploitation of research in democratic countries are having an effect.
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.