Publications

The Nine Gates of Power: China’s Passageways to the World Ocean

June 6, 2025 Kyle Kinnie American Foreign Policy Council

In December 2010, the Asahi Shimbun published a remarkable roadmap laying out the future trajectory of Chinese maritime expansion. In its analysis, the Shimbun outlined a geographically contingent thesis of Chinese geopolitical strategy—one on which the scholar Tetsuo Kotani elaborated further in a 2019 academic paper. Both publications argue that Chinese maritime access to the Pacific and Indian Oceans is effectively constrained through a series of islands and straits in the First Island Chain. These potential chokepoints constitute the “Nine Gates” through which Chinese maritime commerce and sea power must flow. 

Africa Political Monitor No. 51

May 30, 2025 Lilly HarveyAlexander Brown

France and The Western Sahara;
Ghana Closes DC Embassy Amid Visa Fraud Scheme;
Trump To Host African Leaders, Pushes Commercial Diplomacy;
Uganda and Germany Are On The Outs;
Mali’s Junta Dissolves All Political Parties;
U.S. and DRC Near Minerals-For-Security Deal;
RSF in Retreat;
Trump Confronts Ramaphosa Over Claims of White Genocide…;
…And Deports Migrants to South Sudan in Defiance Of Court Order

Africa Political Monitor No. 50

May 12, 2025 Lilly HarveyMia Shaw

Sudan Paramilitary Forms Rival Government;
China, Kenya Upgrade Ties Amid Global Challenges;
Trump Administration Shutters Africa Infrastructure Agency;
Gabon’s Military Leader Secures Controversial Presidential Victory;
Congo, Rwanda Edge Toward Peace Deal