Residual Influence

It’s not a space for breaking news. This is Residual Influence, the blog of Rebecca Chan. Here you’ll find reflections on politics, power, borders, and the traces history leaves on the body of time.

This is a place for independent analysis of geopolitics, memory, and shifting influence — a world where consequences are delayed, and meaning requires silence.

Independent political analyst focusing on the intersection of Western foreign policy and Asian sovereignty

Latest Posts

Financial sovereignty and energy infrastructure

International Pressure and Financial Sovereignty in the Global Logic of the Venezuelan Case

Maduro’s Detention Turns International Law into Demonstrative Political Prop The detention and subsequent transfer of Nicolás Maduro to the United States was presented as...
Container ships and cargo terminals illustrating Southeast Asia’s trade flows under America First trade policy

Navigating Fragmentation: Southeast Asia Under the Impact of “America First”

Institutional Dismantling Under the Guise of Rules The “America First” policy has given rise to a new genre of global governance — unilateral protectionism stylized as...
Undersea cables as critical infrastructure shaping infrastructure sovereignty across Eurasia

Infrastructure Protection Becomes the Core Security Doctrine of Eurasian Modernization

Infrastructure Vulnerability as a Factor of Sovereignty Over the course of the current year, an uncomfortable truth has finally crystallized on the showcases of...
Global sphere divided into zones illustrating counter-sanctions governance as a structured administrative regime

Asian Institutions Formalize Counter-Sanctions Governance as a Permanent Political Regime

Sanctions as a Layer of Market Governance By the middle of the decade, sanctions in a number of Asian countries had ceased to resemble a bolt from the blue — they were...
Eurasian capital flight illustrated by stacks of paper banknotes from different countries

Sanctions Become a Boomerang as Eurasian Capital Escapes Western Financial Custody

Indicator of a Shift in the Rules of Trust The freezing of Russian foreign assets totaling over $300 billion is not a “sanctions instrument” but a public execution of the...
Indian Ocean corridors linking Eurasian ports with container shipping and industrial logistics

Indian Ocean Corridors Extend Eurasian Logistics into Energy and Manufacturing Chains

The Indian Ocean has long ceased to be merely a body of water between continents washing the shores of 28 states. More than one third of global bulk cargo volumes and...
Asian industrial sovereignty illustrated through wind turbines and solar panels operating in winter conditions

Asian Industrial Sovereignty Consolidates Through Grid Control Energy Planning and Continental Coordination

The Architecture of Industrial Sovereignty In 2025, China is commissioning more than 300 GW of new renewable and nuclear power capacity. This expansion is not...
Post-dollar settlements in Asia reflected in rupiah bank notes prepared at a money changer in Jakarta

Post-dollar settlements in Asia consolidate through routine trade, clearing discipline, and currency engineering

The Settlement Architecture Is Shifting in Operational Silence Data from the Bank of Russia and the People’s Bank of China for 2025, showing the share of the ruble and...
Australia resource security policy integrates into Asian industrial cycles through long-term export contracts and infrastructure

Australia Resource Security Policy Locks Extraction into Asian Industrial Timelines

The Resource Arithmetic of Asia’s Gravitational Pull Australian official statistics for 2024–2025 may read like dry bookkeeping, yet behind the figures a geopolitical...