“Whoever is lord of Malacca has his hands on the throat of Venice,” observed the 15th century explorer Tome Pires. Within his lifetime, his native Portugal and rival Spain would effectively divide the world between themselves under the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The treaty sanctioned Portuguese conquest of countless ports across the Indian Ocean while Spain devoured those in the Pacific.
Over the next half a millennium, a constellation of tiny European kingdoms reigned supreme across the vast Asian continent, placing their voracious hands on the throat of once mighty empires in the East. Qing-era China would suffer a "century of humiliation" of unequal treaties, intermittent invasions and forced opium trade; many of its peers were less lucky.
Neighbouring Philippines, for instance, would remain in Spanish colonial grip for 333 years. India arguably suffered the greatest level of colonial immiseration, as the British empire drained from it an estimated $45 trillion (in current dollars) between the 18th and 20th centuries.
Read More from Richard Javad Heydarian
But the Second World War, which devastated imperial metropoles in Europe, triggered a wave of decolonisation across Asia. By the late 20th century, European powers became marginal in regional affairs, with Vietnam (French Indochina), the Philippines (Spanish East Indies) and Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) hardly remembering the language of their former colonial masters.
In recent years, however, European powers have clawed their way back to a measure of geopolitical relevance in Asia. And this less-than-appreciated pivot is largely driven by growing anxieties over America's relative decline as the anchor of the liberal international order, the re-emergence of China as a superpower, and, perhaps most importantly, Asia's booming economies.
Just over a century ago, European hegemony in the continent was taken for granted.
The Victorian Era marked the halcyon years of empire, as Britain, France and Germany scrambled for new colonies once in firm possession of Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese predecessors.
Their eventual collapse came “gradually, then suddenly", to use Ernest Hemingway’s words. The first shock was the rise of the US as a pan-Pacific power, following the Spanish-American wars at the end of the 19th century. The upshot was the transformation of Spanish Philippines into America’s first and only Asian colony, as the newly rising superpower fixed its gaze on China’s vast markets.
At the same time, Meiji-era reforms turned Japan into a military behemoth, which effectively announced its arrival on the world stage through the stunning defeat of Czarist Russia both in the seas and on land.
Both Wilsonian America and imperial Japan encouraged anti-colonial struggles across Asia, much at the expense of the European empires. Thus, the story of 20th century Asia can effectively be summarised as an American-Japanese contest for primacy. Despite its military defeat in the Second World War, Japan emerged as the de facto economic engine of Asia up until the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
By the 1980s, the US even feared Japanese domination of the world economy, with Ezra Vogel's 1979 book Japan as Number One best exemplifying the zeitgeist of American status anxiety and declinist fears.
Nevertheless, the US remained as the undisputed military power in Asia, thanks to its ocean-roaming navy and a large network of military bases across the region. The only relevant “European” power in Asia throughout this period was the Soviet Union, which lacked any meaningful economic power but managed to still nurture alliances from Indochina to North-East Asia.
The end of Cold War, however, ushered a new era of peace and stability, which accelerated the rise of both the EU and post-Mao Zedong China. In stark contrast, Japan lost much of its economic momentum following decades of economic sclerosis, while the US squandered its "hyperpower" moment by engaging in unending wars in the Middle East.
By the second decade of the 21st century, an increasingly Sino-centric Asia became the fulcrum of global economy. Beyond the Chinese economic miracle, the region now hosted some of the world’s fastest growing nations, including Vietnam, Indonesia, India and the Philippines, as well as the newly wealthy economies of Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea.
Reeling from the double-whammy of economic recession and debt crisis, Europe has once again seen Asia as its path to prosperity. The outcome, quite predictably, is a full-on strategic courtship.
The EU is enhancing institutionalised high-level dialogue under mechanisms such as the Asia-Europe Meeting, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Association of South-East Asian Nations, and finalised free trade deals with China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Britain, France and Germany – the so-called “E3” – are scrambling for new trade and investment agreements in Asia.
In 2015, pre-Brexit Britain became the first European country to join the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, despite the US's boycott of the Chinese development initiative. Post-Brexit Britain could become the first European country to join the Japan-led Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal.
Over the past three years, however, European powers, some of which still possessing territories in the Indo-Pacific, have also adopted a more muscular approach in Asia. Worried about China’s maritime ambitions, the E3 powers have stepped up military diplomacy and naval deployments across the South and East China Seas.
France has enraged China by deploying its naval frigate Vendemiaire through the Taiwan Strait in areas Beijing considers as its own national waters. It has also stepped up military assistance to China's rivals, including by signing multi-billion-dollar defence deals with Australia and India.
During a trip to Asia in 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a “Paris-Delhi-Canberra axis”, which will “be respected by China as an equal partner”. Last year, France became the first country to appoint an ambassador for the “Indo-Pacific”, the vast maritime space that has become a theatre of naval competition between China and Asia's other major powers.
Similar to France, Germany has also released its own “Indo-Pacific” strategy paper, which signalled a commitment to step up its strategic engagement across the region, including unprecedented joint naval drills with Japan later this year.
Even more dramatic is Britain's "Indo-Pacific" strategy amid souring relations with China. London has banned certain high-tech investments from China on national security grounds, while pledging to deploy its newly minted aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to Asia's contested waters later this year, most likely in tandem with the US Navy.
Last year, the E3 powers submitted an unprecedented joint note verbale to the UN, in which they questioned China’s claims in adjacent waters. In short, Europe is simultaneously expanding its trade and investment ties with Asia just as it pushes back against China’s maritime ambitions.
In the past, Europe was a harbinger of conflict and destruction in Asia. But amid rising Sino-American tensions nowadays, the E3 powers can play a more constructive role in the region.
As "shaping powers", Europe can deploy a combination of patient diplomacy and proactive strategic engagement through trade and investment deals to uphold international law, check the excesses of both superpowers, and help build the capacity of smaller Asian nations to preserve their autonomy and territorial integrity.
Instead of siding with one superpower against the other, or blindly courting Asia for mercantilist gains alone, Europe can and should help prevent a "new Cold War" and contribute to the preservation of a truly "free and open" order in Asia. To paraphrase what Tome Pires said centuries ago, what happens in waters of Asia (Malacca) will inevitably affect peace and prosperity in Europe (Venice).
Richard Javad Heydarian is a professorial chairholder in geopolitics at Polytechnic University of the Philippines and author of, among others, 'The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China and the New Struggle for Global Mastery'
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
TCL INFO
Teams:
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
The Energy Research Centre
Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
"In the 1990s, we found out about global warming so we focused on energy savings and tackling the greenhouse gas effect.”
The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
Company%C2%A0profile
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Why are you, you?
Why are you, you?
From this question, a new beginning.
From this question, a new destiny.
For you are a world, and a meeting of worlds.
Our dream is to unite that which has been
separated by history.
To return the many to the one.
A great story unites us all,
beyond colour and creed and gender.
The lightning flash of art
And the music of the heart.
We reflect all cultures, all ways.
We are a twenty first century wonder.
Universal ideals, visions of art and truth.
Now is the turning point of cultures and hopes.
Come with questions, leave with visions.
We are the link between the past and the future.
Here, through art, new possibilities are born. And
new answers are given wings.
Why are you, you?
Because we are mirrors of each other.
Because together we create new worlds.
Together we are more powerful than we know.
We connect, we inspire, we multiply illuminations
with the unique light of art.
Ben Okri,
The Indoor Cricket World Cup
When: September 16-23
Where: Insportz, Dubai
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Crazy Rich Asians
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
Four stars
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Nick Jonas
Two out of five stars
Countries offering golden visas
UK
Innovator Founder Visa is aimed at those who can demonstrate relevant experience in business and sufficient investment funds to set up and scale up a new business in the UK. It offers permanent residence after three years.
Germany
Investing or establishing a business in Germany offers you a residence permit, which eventually leads to citizenship. The investment must meet an economic need and you have to have lived in Germany for five years to become a citizen.
Italy
The scheme is designed for foreign investors committed to making a significant contribution to the economy. Requires a minimum investment of €250,000 which can rise to €2 million.
Switzerland
Residence Programme offers residence to applicants and their families through economic contributions. The applicant must agree to pay an annual lump sum in tax.
Canada
Start-Up Visa Programme allows foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to create a business in Canada and apply for permanent residence.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs: Hyundai Ionic Hybrid
Price, base: Dh117,000 (estimate)
Engine: 1.6L four-cylinder, with 1.56kWh battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 105hp (engine), plus 43.5hp (battery)
Torque: 147Nm (engine), plus 170Nm (battery)
Fuel economy, combined: 3.4L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Student Of The Year 2
Director: Punit Malhotra
Stars: Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Ananya Pandey, Aditya Seal
1.5 stars
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Various%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rosario%20Dawson%2C%20Natasha%20Liu%20Bordizzo%2C%20Lars%20Mikkelsen%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mountain%20Boy
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The biog
Favourite food: Tabbouleh, greek salad and sushi
Favourite TV show: That 70s Show
Favourite animal: Ferrets, they are smart, sensitive, playful and loving
Favourite holiday destination: Seychelles, my resolution for 2020 is to visit as many spiritual retreats and animal shelters across the world as I can
Name of first pet: Eddy, a Persian cat that showed up at our home
Favourite dog breed: I love them all - if I had to pick Yorkshire terrier for small dogs and St Bernard's for big
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Price: from Dh498,542
On sale: now
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
NATIONAL%20SELECTIONS
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List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
MATCH INFO
Tottenham 4 (Alli 51', Kane 50', 77'. Aurier 73')
Olympiakos 2 (El-Arabi 06', Semedo')
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Results
Female 49kg: Mayssa Bastos (BRA) bt Thamires Aquino (BRA); points 0-0 (advantage points points 1-0).
Female 55kg: Bianca Basilio (BRA) bt Amal Amjahid (BEL); points 4-2.
Female 62kg: Beatriz Mesquita (BRA) v Ffion Davies (GBR); 10-2.
Female 70kg: Thamara Silva (BRA) bt Alessandra Moss (AUS); submission.
Female 90kg: Gabreili Passanha (BRA) bt Claire-France Thevenon (FRA); submission.
Male 56kg: Hiago George (BRA) bt Carlos Alberto da Silva (BRA); 2-2 (2-0)
Male 62kg: Gabriel de Sousa (BRA) bt Joao Miyao (BRA); 2-2 (2-1)
Male 69kg: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Isaac Doederlein (USA); 2-2 (2-2) Ref decision.
Male 77kg: Tommy Langarkar (NOR) by Oliver Lovell (GBR); submission.
Male 85kg: Rudson Mateus Teles (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE); 2-2 (1-1) Ref decision.
Male 94kg: Kaynan Duarte (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL); submission.
Male 110kg: Joao Rocha (BRA) bt Yahia Mansoor Al Hammadi (UAE); submission.
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
