Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

This file photo shows ongoing land reclamation by China on Subi Reef (Jhubi Reef) as seen from Thitu Island (Jhongye Island) of the Spratly group of islands (Nansha Islands) in the South China Sea on May 11, 2015.
Photo: Reuters

The Pentagon on Tuesday said that a recent Chinese missile launch in the disputed South China Sea was “disturbing” and contrary to Chinese pledges that it would not militarize the disputed waterway.

The transnational state is a relatively new conception in global affairs (although it originated in the early 20th century), which posits that heightened interconnectivity is reducing the significance of economic, political and social borders, and increasing communication between individuals, states and other groups. In a word, transnationalism refers to the manifold links, relationships and correspondent cultural filaments that couple people and institutions across the borders of nation-states.

Some might confuse “globalization” with transnationalism, but the global view tends to be more centered on economics, while that which is “trans“ is just that — going across and through, changing.