The current political and economic landscape is undergoing numerous structural adjustments, and international sanctions are increasingly spreading. This study utilizes the Global Sanctions Database to comprehensively analyze the temporal and spatial patterns of international sanctions, as well as their multidimensional effects on target countries and regions between 1950 and 2022, by integrating various types of sanctions into a unified analytical framework. The findings are as follows: (1) The number of global sanctions increased from 188 in 1950 to 12,246 in 2022, particularly exhibiting a significant surge during the post-Cold War period. (2) The spatial distribution of international sanctions aligns closely with the Brandt Line. During the Cold War, the US camp initiated approximately 70% of sanctions, but post-Cold War countries and regions in the Global North accounted for about 90% of sanctions. (3) The global sanctions network is dominated by a limited number of countries and regions in the Global North, with the United States at the forefront. As China, India, and other countries and regions have gradually developed their capacity to leverage globalization and interdependence, the previously unidirectional and asymmetric relationship of sanctions between the Global North and Global South has slowly shifted to a complex and multipolar interactive dynamic. (4) The impacts of various international sanctions on the political stability, economic development, and social stability of target countries and regions have been confirmed. Notably, military and economic sanctions predominantly affect the countries and regions in the Global South without similarly impacting those in the Global North. Furthermore, the study identifies an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic and social sanctions and gross national income and number of international refugees. Based on these insights, this study proposes strategic countermeasures for China to prevent and effectively respond to potential sanctions crises.

The natural course of transboundary rivers traverses multiple national borders, integrating distinct sovereign states into a cohesive ecological system. This geographical characteristic complicates the governance of water resources, particularly in the context of escalating global water scarcity and intensifying geopolitical tensions. Consequently, transboundary river governance has emerged as a quintessential example of the public resource dilemma. Drawing on the constructivist theory of international relations, this study uses the Lancang-Mekong River Basin as a case study, integrating data from multiple databases and socioeconomic indicators to examine the evolution of collective identity among riparian countries and the factors influencing it. The findings are as follows: (1) The collective identity of the riparian countries has evolved through three distinct phases: the incubation phase (1971-1991), the formation phase (1992-2014), and the development phase (2015-2022). During this process, the institutional structure of the basin shifted from initial, limited governance mechanisms to a more comprehensive basin-wide system. The range of issues expanded, and the number of cooperation agreements steadily increased. Cooperative attitudes evolved from broadly positive to differentiated, ultimately converging in a more favorable direction. (2) Economic interdependence is the core factor in the formation of collective identity among riparian countries. Similar diplomatic stances contribute to enhancing cooperative attitudes and play a supportive role in the formation of collective identity. (3) Extreme weather events and political globalization exert a dual effect on the formation of collective identity: while extreme weather enhances the willingness to cooperate, it also forces states to focus on domestic recovery, thus increasing the complexity of cooperation agreements and the expansion of issues. Political globalization has facilitated the institutionalization of basin governance, the normalization of cooperation, and the expansion of issues; however, external involvement has exacerbated divisions in the cooperative attitudes of riparian countries. This study enriches theoretical perspectives on transboundary river governance and supports collective action in global environmental governance.

To optimize territorial spatial patterns and promote coordinated regional development, it is critical to understand territorial functions and their coordination with social, economic, resource, and environmental dimensions. Taking China's land border areas as a case, this study constructed an evaluation framework to assess five dimensions of territorial functions: security-stability, opening-up, urban-rural development, agricultural production, and ecological protection. Based on the Bayesian random effects regression model, multidimensional coordination indices of territorial functions were developed to systematically examine their evolutionary patterns and spatial disparities. The results indicated that: (1) Functions of security-stability and ecological protection demonstrated overall enhancement, while those of opening-up and urban-rural development showed fluctuations, with agricultural production functions exhibiting regional divergence. (2) The coordination between territorial functions and social dimension improved progressively, while economic coordination declined, resource and environmental coordination slightly decreased. Based on the evolutionary patterns of territorial functions and regional characteristics, the border areas were categorized into five development types: industry transformation-function slowdown, ecological constraint-function moderate growth, resource driving-function fluctuation, ecological constraint-function slowdown, and openness driving-function rapid growth. (3) The intra-group differences in territorial function coordination showed increasing fluctuations, while inter-group differences gradually narrowed. Notably, the northeastern border areas demonstrated greater internal variation, whereas the southwestern border areas displayed relatively minor differences. Inter-group differences contributed more to the overall disparity, primarily driven by imbalances across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. This study reveals the differentiated development pathways of territorial functions and provides strategic support for the sustainable development of border areas, including industrial transformation, resource-ecology synergy, infrastructure enhancement, and multilateral cooperation.

Existing studies on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) mainly focused on institutional features, macro-economic impacts and trade-network structures, while its geographic attributes and their implications remain underexplored. Taking the RCEP as a case, this paper examines how the FTA reshapes China's trade geography and validates these effects with an enhanced GTAP model, providing an empirical basis for advancing trade-geography theory. Key findings include: (1) RCEP significantly reduces regional trade costs. After full implementation of the agreement, the average tariffs among member countries will decrease to 40.5% of the pre-implementation level, while import and export trade facilitation levels improve by 34.3% and 29.6%, respectively. However, these improvements exhibit marked regional disparities. (2) RCEP asymmetrically promotes China's foreign trade growth, with stronger import stimulation than export expansion, alongside significant commodity-specific variations. (3) The agreement reshapes China's trade geography, driving a 7.66% increase in intra-RCEP trade while reducing extra-RCEP trade by 0.80%. (4) The restructuring of China's trade patterns under RCEP emerges from the complex interplay of trade creation, diversion, and displacement effects. Accordingly, China should further harmonize regional tariff schedules, enhance trade-facilitation mechanisms, strengthen industrial competitiveness and expand multilateral partnerships.