标签： Asia

In a recent exclusive conversation with China Daily, a veteran former Thai political leader has sounded the alarm over deepening global divides, warning that the world’s most vulnerable populations bear the brunt of rising polarization and conflict. Bhokin Bhalakula, who previously served as president of Thailand’s National Assembly, made the remarks during an interview updated by the outlet on April 15, 2026, offering a clear-eyed assessment of today’s fractured international landscape.

Bhokin emphasized that the current era of geopolitical polarization is unlike any the world has seen before, with every new escalation of tension and outbreak of conflict leaving everyday civilians to face the worst consequences. From disrupted livelihoods to lost lives and fractured communities, he argued, ordinary people who have no stake in power struggles between nations or blocs end up paying the highest price for rising division.

Beyond his warning on polarization, Bhokin pushed back against the growing trend of great power unilateralism. He noted that a foreign policy framework that prioritizes the interests of a single nation over the sovereign rights and needs of other countries can never earn genuine respect from the global community. Such an approach, he implied, only deepens divides and fuels further instability.

In contrast to unilateral, zero-sum approaches to global affairs, Bhokin highlighted the strength and resonance of China’s vision for global cooperation. The concept of “a community with a shared future for mankind,” first put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping, effectively upholds the equal rights and interests of all nations in international governance, he said. This vision, Bhokin added, aligns perfectly with the widespread global desire for inclusive, peaceful development that benefits all people, not just a select few powerful states.

As a critical ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran approaches its expiration next week, the Trump administration is laying the groundwork for a dramatic shift in its conflict strategy, moving away from direct kinetic military strikes to an all-out economic pressure campaign designed to force Tehran into compliance by crippling its financial foundations.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the new approach during a White House press briefing Wednesday, framing the planned escalation as the “financial equivalent” of a sustained bombing campaign. The core of the new strategy is a major expansion of secondary sanctions that would target any third-country individuals, firms and financial entities that engage in business with Iranian-controlled assets – a move that would even impact U.S. allies in the Gulf such as the United Arab Emirates and major economic competitors including China.

“We have told companies, we have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions, which is a very stern measure,” Bessent told reporters. “And the Iranians should know that this is going to be the financial equivalent of what we saw in the kinetic activities.”

The announcement came just one day after the Treasury Department issued formal warnings to financial institutions across China, Hong Kong, the UAE and Oman, accusing these jurisdictions of facilitating illicit Iranian financial activity through their systems and threatening penalties for continued engagement. A senior anonymous source familiar with the administration’s internal planning told the Associated Press that the pressure campaign is designed to force Iran to accept U.S. terms for limiting its nuclear program, a longstanding policy goal of the Trump presidency.

Privately, administration officials argue that while Iranian leadership believes it can outlast current U.S. pressure, cutting off access to global financial markets will leave Tehran unable to pay its military and political allies, ultimately forcing it back to the negotiating table. Additional economic targets are already lined up for potential sanctioning, including Iran’s bonyads – powerful charitable-controlled business entities that make up a large portion of the country’s overall economy.

Bessent also revealed that two major Chinese banks have already received formal warnings over their handling of Iranian funds, as President Trump prepares for a high-stakes official visit to Beijing next month to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Treasury chief added that Iran’s Gulf neighbors have become willing to freeze Iranian assets held in their domestic banks, a shift driven by Tehran’s military actions during the ongoing conflict.

On the same day the new strategy was announced, the Treasury rolled out new sanctions targeting an oil smuggling network tied to the late senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani, a close adviser to Iran’s former Supreme Leader. The penalties cover dozens of individuals, front companies and vessels spread across multiple countries – most based in the UAE – that have been involved in the clandestine transport and sale of Iranian and Russian oil. “Treasury will continue to cut off Iran’s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks,” Bessent said in a formal statement. “Financial institutions should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.”

Sanctions expert Daniel Pickard, a practicing sanctions attorney, warned that the expansion of secondary sanctions carries major risks of diplomatic and economic blowback from U.S. trading partners, which could undermine the coalition-building needed to make the pressure campaign effective. “A lot of our trading partners have been outspoken in regard to their opposition to the conflict in Iran,” Pickard noted. “Most economic sanctions professionals would agree that when you get more people on the team, the chances of your economic sanctions being effective are greater.”

Trump administration officials have expressed growing confidence that the current ceasefire and ongoing blockade of Iranian shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have shifted the momentum of the conflict in Washington’s favor. Months of bombardment have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage to Iran’s core infrastructure, including critical damage to its oil sector – the central pillar of Iran’s already fragile, long-isolated economy – that officials estimate will take years to fully repair.

Vice President JD Vance reinforced the administration’s negotiating position this week, saying Trump is not seeking a limited incremental agreement and instead pushing for a sweeping “grand bargain” that would see Iran commit to full denuclearization in exchange for economic relief. “If you guys commit to not having a nuclear weapon, we are going to make Iran thrive,” Vance said, outlining the U.S. offer.

Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, struck a harder line during a Fox News appearance Tuesday, framing the Strait of Hormuz blockade as a checkmate move against Tehran. “If Iran chooses the path of a deal that’s great for the world, that’s great for everybody. If Iran chooses the path of economic strangulation by blockade, then the world will pass Iran by,” Miller said. “New energy routes will be established. New supply chains will be established. Other nations throughout the region — throughout the world, and especially America — will power the world and Iran will become a footnote.”

Reaction from Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill has been split. While some, like Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, say any additional pressure on Iran is worth pursuing, others are skeptical that more sanctions will change Tehran’s behavior after years of existing penalties failed to alter Iran’s strategic goals. “I’m not sure if it’s sanctions that’ll do it. I think we’re putting some pretty heavy sanctions on right now,” said Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a member of both the Senate Banking and Armed Services Committees. “I personally am just not optimistic that we actually can fix this thing without a regime change.”

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, a think tank that has publicly criticized Trump’s decision to launch the conflict, argues that the ceasefire has shifted the negotiating dynamic between the two sides. Before the ceasefire, Parsi noted, Trump was politically cornered and strategically constrained, but the current opening has left Iran with more incentive to reach a deal than the U.S. “The window now open offers Tehran a chance to convert battlefield leverage into lasting strategic gain,” Parsi wrote in a recent analysis. “To let it close would mean forfeiting not just incremental progress, but the possibility of reshaping its economic and geopolitical position. By contrast, the United States, having already secured a tenuous exit ramp through the ceasefire, has less at stake in the short term.”

As the world sees growing shifts in global defense policy and a steady upward trend in military spending across many nations, one prominent Japanese academic has stepped forward to sound the alarm over the underrecognized long-term dangers that come with large-scale military expansion. Hiroshi Onishi, emeritus professor at Japan’s Keio University and vice-chairman of the World Association for Political Economy, drew direct parallels between contemporary moves to expand military capacity and Japan’s pre-World War II strategic choices that altered the course of global history. In his analysis, Onishi recalled that in the years leading up to World War II, Japan funded its dramatic military buildup through the issuance of massive volumes of government bonds, a fiscal choice that set the nation on a path of escalating aggression with catastrophic global consequences.

Beyond the geopolitical risks of renewed militarization, Onishi has also laid out clear opposition to the current push for rising national defense budgets, highlighting the severe economic harm that increased military spending inflicts on broader public well-being and long-term national competitiveness. He emphasized that diverting an ever-larger share of national resources to military projects does not generate sustainable broad-based growth. Instead, the academic warned, significant increases in defense expenditure inevitably crowd out funding for civilian needs and gradually erode household consumption capacity, weakening domestic demand and undermining a nation’s overall economic strength over time. His warning comes amid growing global debate over defense budget priorities, as nations weigh security concerns against the need for investments in social welfare, infrastructure, and civilian economic development.

In a development that puts new scrutiny on cross-border arms transfers to Israel, Belgian authorities have seized two separate shipments of undeclared military components originating from the United Kingdom that were en route to Israel. The seizure comes after Belgium implemented a policy banning aircraft carrying military equipment bound for Israel from landing in its territory or transiting its airspace.

The interception followed a formal alert sent to Brussels authorities last month by a coalition of transparency and advocacy groups: British investigative outlet Declassified, Belgian non-governmental organization Vredesactie, Irish news platform The Ditch, and the Palestinian Youth Movement. The groups tipped officials off to the weapons-bound shipments traveling from the UK to Israel via Belgium’s Liege Airport.

According to tracking details, the two consignments departed the UK on March 23 and were intercepted at Liege Airport the following day. A specialized engineering inspection of the packages uncovered mislabeled cargo: fire control systems and spare parts designed for military aircraft, which had not been accurately declared on shipping documentation.

Belgian federal authorities have confirmed they have opened a formal criminal investigation into the unauthorized shipments, but have declined to publicly identify the companies named in the initial complaint. However, the regional government of Wallonia, the southern Belgian region where Liege Airport is located, has publicly named one implicated firm as Moog, a U.S.-headquartered aerospace manufacturer that operates multiple production facilities across the United Kingdom.

Investigative reporting from Declassified has uncovered additional context: a shipping postcode linked to Moog’s Wolverhampton, UK factory was used to send similar components to Israel via Belgium as early as December 2024. Moog produces key flight actuators for the M-346 trainer aircraft used by the Israeli Air Force to train new military pilots.

Sources familiar with the shipment tracking process told reporters the components were exported from the UK under an Open Individual Export Licence, a mechanism that classified the goods as general aircraft parts rather than restricted military equipment. The same sources also confirmed that at least 17 separate consignments linked to Moog have been shipped from the UK to Liege Airport, all with final destinations in Israel.

A freedom of information request filed by the tracking team further revealed that the UK Foreign Office holds no documented correspondence with Belgian authorities regarding the transit of UK-sourced military components to Israel via Belgian territory.

The seizure comes months after the UK government implemented a partial suspension of arms sales to Israel in September 2024. At that time, UK officials halted 30 of 350 active arms export licenses to Israel, citing a “clear risk” that the equipment could be used to violate international humanitarian law in the ongoing Gaza conflict.

In a formal statement responding to inquiries about the seizures, the UK’s Department for Business and Trade said: “We have suspended all licences for equipment for Israel that might be used in military operations in Gaza, with the exception of the special measures relating to the global F-35 programme. Exports of controlled equipment are subject to strict licensing requirements. It would be a criminal offence for an exporter not to have the required licences in place before exporting such items.”

A Walloon government spokesperson told Declassified that the mislabeled goods unequivocally require a transit license under Belgian law, saying: “In our view, the goods do indeed require a transit licence… We have already contacted our lawyers. We wish to… take all necessary steps to ensure that the law is upheld.”

A separate spokesperson for the Belgian federal government added: “No transit licence request was issued; if it had been, it would have been refused.”

Middle East Eye, which first broke the full details of the seizure, has reached out to Moog for official comment on the allegations. The outlet provides independent, on-the-ground coverage of the Middle East, North Africa and broader global affairs.