2024-01-30 11:00
Compared to Vietnam and the Philippines, Indonesia’s strategic ties with the United States have been lacklustre. Indonesia’s latest elevation of its relationship with… Read More
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Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
2024-01-30 04:00
Pakistan remains on edge since Imran Khan was ousted as prime minister in 2022, following defections within his coalition and a vote of no-confidence in the parliament.
The suc… Read More
2024-01-29 23:00
Cambodia aims to become an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050. To realise these ambitions, Cambodia must address various constraints to achievin… Read More
2024-01-29 11:00
In 2023, Indonesia successfully held the ASEAN chairmanship and hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the first FIFA tournament held in Southeast Asia. Indonesia also launched its first… Read More
2024-01-29 04:00
Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) play a significant role in Japan’s farming industry. They offer a wide range of services to members, ranging from ma… Read More
2024-01-28 21:00
When Anwar Ibrahim finally won the prime ministership, supporters might have been happy for his Pakatan Harapan coalition government to bring reform to Malaysian government and po… Read More
2024-01-28 11:00
When we talk about the state, Charles Tilly memorably argued, the word ‘protection’ has a double meaning — at once reassuring and menacing. The reassuring part i… Read More
2024-01-27 16:00
2023 was a year of progressive consolidation of power for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Unity Government. After assuming office, Malaysia’s perennial prime minist… Read More
2024-01-27 11:00
South Korea has emerged as a solid partner for war-ravaged Ukraine. Not only do South Korea and Ukraine have common experiences straddling geopolitical fault lines, but Seoul has… Read More
2024-01-27 04:00
Amid a global rush for critical minerals, India is looking to develop its lithium supply chain through various means, including leveraging private and public industries to sustain… Read More
2024-01-26 23:00
Since the 1980s, Cambodia’s relations with the United States and China have fundamentally shifted. In 1988, former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen described China as &lsquo… Read More
2024-01-26 16:00
The decision to introduce ridesharing services is controversial in Japan. Taxi shortages are a serious issue in rural areas. This has also become an urban problem with increas… Read More
2024-01-26 11:03
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee’s announcement that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will introduce its own national security law in 2024 was a sur… Read More
2024-01-26 04:00
The post-pandemic landscape has seen increased deglobalisation of the multilateral trading system and a greater emphasis on regional development. The mantra of low-cost, ‘ju… Read More
2024-01-25 23:00
In 2023, North Korea continued the foreign policy line it has followed since the failed attempt to compromise with the United States, undertaken during the former Trump administra… Read More
2024-01-25 16:00
In 2023, the Philippines faced economic challenges stemming from global headwinds, largely due to global geopolitical tensions and the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The… Read More
2024-01-25 11:00
Hong Kong’s economy enjoyed a cyclical rebound in 2023. But wounds from COVID-19 policies, external headwinds from decelerating Chinese growth and high interest rates ha… Read More
2024-01-25 04:00
If 2022 ranked as Sri Lanka’s worst-ever economic year, 2023 was relatively stable. The government, headed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, negotiated with creditors and s… Read More
2024-01-24 23:00
In 2023, Thailand experienced significant political changes, but the economy remained moribund. In May, elections for the 500 seats in the House of Representatives produced an… Read More
2024-01-24 16:00
Pakistan faces multifaceted challenges, spanning an economic downturn, high unemployment and political turbulence. The major ingredients in Pakistan’s economic and socia… Read More
2024-01-24 11:00
Laos had the feeling of a nation moving ever closer to an economic reckoning in 2023, even though the outcome is likely to be ambiguous and protracted. While according to official… Read More
2024-01-24 04:00
China entered 2023 emerging from one sea of troubles, only to find itself embroiled in another. The lifting of COVID-19-related restrictions in November 2022 as a result of widesp… Read More
2024-01-23 23:00
Following a strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysia’s economic growth decelerated from 8.7 per cent in 2022 to approximately 4 per cent in 2023. The economy was… Read More
2024-01-23 16:00
2023 marked 70 years of diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Japan. To commemorate this anniversary, Phnom Penh and Tokyo elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic… Read More
2024-01-23 11:00
2023 was a year of increased international engagement for Papua New Guinea, though the most prominent issues facing the government came from within the country.
In January, Aus… Read More
2023-07-13 00:00
Author: Walter James, Temple University
The G7 Meeting of Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers held in Sapporo, Japan in April 2023 showcased agreements expanding renewable energy. Ther… Read More
2023-07-12 12:00
Author: Darren J Lim, ANU
The study of hedging emerged because the traditional security concepts of balancing and bandwagoning are insufficient for understanding how smaller states are respo… Read More
2023-07-12 00:00
Author: Troy Han, RSIS
In India, data is being treated as a strategic resource that needs to be safeguarded from external exploitation and made available for domestic requirements. Prime Min… Read More
2023-07-11 12:00
Author: Michael Keating, ANU
The starting point for any review of Australia’s international strategy must be an assessment of the future US–China relationship, focussing on possi… Read More
2023-07-11 00:00
Author: Thorn Pitidol, Thammasat University
Thailand is going through one of the most significant moments in its recent history. After nine years under military rule, the coalition of politi… Read More
2023-07-10 12:10
Author: Jong Eun Lee, American University
On 10 May 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol was inaugurated as South Korea’s president. Yoon promised a presidency characterised by ‘freedom’, … Read More
2023-07-10 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Asia has been sweltering through one of its most intense heat waves in memory. In April, Vietnam and Laos saw their hottest temperatures on record, and in India… Read More
2023-07-09 12:00
Authors: M Chatib Basri, University of Indonesia and Adam Triggs, Mandala
Here are three inconvenient truths. First, the world cannot fight climate change without developing countries. Secon… Read More
2023-07-08 12:00
Author: Richard Katz, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Japanese automakers are risking a repeat of the decline of Detroit’s big three automakers — Chrysler, F… Read More
2023-07-08 00:00
Authors: Haiqing Yu, RMIT University and Wanning Sun, UTS
There is a common misperception that WeChat is a trap for the Chinese diaspora. Yet, this is a simplistic view. While WeChat is esse… Read More
2023-07-07 12:00
Author: Sourabh Gupta, ICAS
In June 2023, four months after a wayward surveillance balloon blew his impending visit off course, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing to set ab… Read More
2023-07-07 00:00
Authors: Nicholas R Lardy and Tianlei Huang, Peterson Institute for International Economics
The US and Chinese economies are closely interconnected, but their ties are eroding. Despite recor… Read More
2023-07-06 12:00
Author: John Quiggin, UQ
Australia’s purchase of nuclear submarines under the AUKUS agreement has been framed in terms of the jobs that would be created in submarine construction, rath… Read More
2023-07-06 00:00
Author: Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, ECIPE
‘A nation can be transformed’. With those stately words, US President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in August 2022… Read More
2023-07-05 12:00
Author: Yusaku Yoshikawa, JIN Corporation
In April 2023, the Japanese government approved a new draft amendment to the Special Zones for the Structural Reform Act. The amendment allows corpo… Read More
2023-07-05 00:00
Author: Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, Swedish Institute for Foreign Affairs
On the surface, sanctions seem to have had little impact on North Korea’s behaviour. At the time of writing… Read More
2023-07-04 12:00
Author: Cheng-Chwee Kuik, National University of Malaysia
Can Southeast Asian states continue to hedge as US–China rivalry intensifies? To answer this question, a distinction must be m… Read More
2023-07-04 00:00
Author: Aristyo Rizka Darmawan, ANU
Since its announcement in September 2021, AUKUS has been hotly debated both in Australia and Southeast Asia. Speculations among Australia’s neighbou… Read More
2023-07-03 12:00
Author: John Edwards, Curtin University and Lowy Institute
There was a time when government spending to support particular industries was widely deplored as wasteful interference in free mar… Read More
2023-07-03 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Indonesian President Joko Widodo will land in Sydney this week to kick off his fifth official visit to Australia — the first since the COVID-19 pandemic an… Read More
2023-07-02 12:00
Authors: Peter Drysdale, ANU and Rizal Sukma, CSIS
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s visit to Australia this week, likely his last while in office, comes at a time when Indonesia and… Read More
2023-07-01 12:00
Authors: Haiqing Yu, RMIT University and Wanning Sun, UTS
WeChat is a news-sharing and content-distribution platform where people can easily share opinions and information. Despite the conce… Read More
2023-07-01 00:00
Authors: Shreya Sharma and Karan Babbar, OP Jindal Global University
On 18 April 2023, the Indian Supreme Court began hearing arguments in favour of marriage equality from members of the LGB… Read More
2023-06-30 12:00
Author: Anggara Raharyo, President University
A former Indonesian minister of tourism once called Thailand and Indonesia ‘sparring partners’. This can be applied not only to tour… Read More
2023-06-30 00:00
Author: Craig Kennedy, Harvard University
In January 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed senior Kremlin officials to find solutions to something he termed the ‘diskont&rs&hell…Read More
2023-06-29 13:39
Author: Jürgen Rüland, University of Freiburg
On 24 February 2023, one year after Russia started its war of aggression against Ukraine, the Chinese government published a 12-point… Read More
2023-06-29 00:00
Author: Martin Chorzempa
After a record-breaking wave of new sanctions on Russia, a longstanding debate on whether the overuse of sanctions ‘endangers the dollar’s reign’ h… Read More
2023-06-28 12:00
Author: Joseph Chinyong Liow, NTU
As great power rivalry casts its long shadow over Southeast Asia, the imperative of regional unity grows more urgent. Yet diversity, divisions and disputes… Read More
2023-06-28 00:00
Author: Nicholas Farrelly, University of Tasmania
The ASEAN Summit in Indonesia in May 2023 saw, once again, the problem for Southeast Asian leaders seeking better outcomes to Myanmar’… Read More
2023-06-27 12:00
Author: Chiranjib Sen, Azim Premji University
The January 2023 Hindenburg Research report accused the Adani Group — one of India’s largest conglomerates — of share price ir… Read More
2023-06-27 00:00
Author: Joseph Negrine, ANU
Like many nations, Vietnam’s growth prospects are challenged by conflicting objectives. The ruling Communist Party aims to reach high-income status by 2045… Read More
2023-06-26 12:00
Author: Paul Chambers, Naresuan University
Over a month after Thailand’s progressive Move Forward party and its prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat won a decisive victory in… Read More
2023-06-26 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
The ageing and shrinking of populations in many parts of East Asia will be a defining part of their economic and social development this century, just as the tra… Read More
2023-06-25 12:00
Author: George Magnus, Oxford University
It is often said that demographics are destiny, but at a macroeconomic level, ageing societies do not need to turn into the economic graveyards that… Read More
2023-06-24 12:00
Author: Ivan Lidarev, King’s College London
China has made some very cautious peacemaking moves in the Russia–Ukraine war. In February 2023, Beijing announced a 12-point proposal… Read More
2023-06-23 22:00
Author: Yuki Tatsumi, Stimson Center
One of the key highlights of Japan’s three national security documents released on 16 December 2022 — the National Security Strategy, the Nat… Read More
2023-06-23 12:00
Author: Dursun Peksen, University of Memphis
Economic sanctions have assumed a prominent role in global politics since the turn of the twenty-first century. With a lack of public support for… Read More
2023-06-23 00:00
Author: Akash Sahu, New Delhi
The security environment in the Indo-Pacific has increasingly become volatile due to great power rivalry. Australia’s latest Defence Strategic Review affi… Read More
2023-06-22 12:00
Author: Susannah Patton, Lowy Institute
Following the 2021 coup, Myanmar has experienced more than two years of violent and repressive military rule. Sanctions have been a central plank in t… Read More
2023-06-22 00:00
Author: Jeffrey Reeves, Onyx Strategic Insights
The Power of Siberia-2 (PoS2) gas pipeline has the potential to transform Northeast Asian energy security dynamics, provided Moscow and Beijin… Read More
2023-06-21 12:00
Authors: M Habib Abiyan Dzakwan and Novia Xu
May 2023 marked 15 months since Russia launched military action against Ukraine. Not only does the confrontation have devastating impacts on the… Read More
2023-06-21 00:00
Author: Hyung-A Kim, ANU
Since the anniversary of Yoon Suk-yeol’s ascent to South Korea’s presidency was marked in May 2023, public doubt over Yoon’s apparently arbitrary a… Read More
2023-06-20 12:00
Author: Stewart Paterson, Evenstar
China has made clear its discontent with the role of the US dollar in the international economy and its intention to internationalise the RMB as an alterna… Read More
2023-06-20 00:00
Author: Gilles Guiheux, Universite Paris Cite
In China, one of the consequences of the economic reforms launched in the late 1970s was the re-emergence of private entrepreneurs. Gradually, c… Read More
2023-06-19 12:00
Author: Yuen Foong Khong, NUS
At the ASEAN Summit in 2018, former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison argued that ‘our relationships with [the US and China] are different, and the… Read More
2023-06-19 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Last week Japan adopted its first ever space security blueprint aimed at better using space for defensive purposes. This builds on the three new security documen… Read More
2023-06-18 12:00
Author: Yusuke Ishihara, NIDS
The Yoshida Doctrine is no longer fit to understand Japan’s grand strategy. Its precepts emerged under former prime minister Shigeru Yoshida as an interim… Read More
2023-06-17 12:00
Authors: Ulfah Aulia, ERIA and Sheila Alifia, Jakarta
Digital trade has reduced the costs of engaging in international trade, facilitated the coordination of global value chains and connecte… Read More
2023-06-17 00:00
Author: Mikael Gravers, Aarhus University
In 2022, China’s former foreign minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar, but he did not meet with the regime’s leader Senior General Min Aung H… Read More
2023-06-16 12:00
Authors: Juan Felix, Active Vista Center Inc., Ferdinand Sanchez II and Nicole Curato, University of Canberra
The Philippines is often portrayed as one of the world’s most important ba… Read More
2023-06-16 00:00
Author: Pan Wang, UNSW
China’s marriage and birth rates have plunged to record lows but its divorce rates have skyrocketed in recent decades. In 2012, the divorce rate exceeded the mar… Read More
2023-06-15 12:00
Author: Damien Kingsbury, Deakin University
Timor-Leste’s resistance-era leader, Xanana Gusmao, is set to resume his county’s presidency. This follows his National Congress for T… Read More
2023-06-15 00:00
Authors: William A Reinsch and Emily Benson, CSIS
On 7 October 2022, the US Bureau of Industry and Security issued new regulations on exports of semiconductors and certain semiconductor manu… Read More
2023-06-14 12:00
Authors: Mark Turner, UNSW and Anthea McCarthy-Jones, UNSW
In May 2023, Philippine law enforcement agencies freed over 1000 workers from an industrial-scale cyber scam hub 90 kilometres nort… Read More
2023-06-14 00:00
Author: Tania Voon, University of Melbourne
Growing use of economic sanctions by numerous countries today has increased the significance of WTO security exceptions, which allow members to re… Read More
2023-06-13 12:00
Author: Mely Caballero-Anthony, NTU
Against a backdrop of heightening competition between the United States and China, Southeast Asia has come under greater scrutiny as analysts examine wher… Read More
2023-06-13 00:00
Authors: Rahul Jaybhay and Anondeeta Chakraborty, JNU
Stranded in the deteriorating East Asian security environment, South Korea is witnessing unprecedented turbulence. The nuclear build-up… Read More
2023-06-12 12:00
Authors: Patrick Nunn, University of the Sunshine Coast and Johannes Luetz, Alphacrucis University College and UNSW
Climate change adaptation in the Pacific needs to be examined more careful… Read More
2023-06-12 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
One of the defining instruments of 21st century geopolitical struggle isn’t a bomb or a warship — it’s the use of economic sanctions to coerce… Read More
2023-06-11 12:00
Author: Nicholas Mulder, Cornell University
Thirty-seven countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The breadth of this campaign has… Read More
2023-06-11 00:00
Author: Tom Westland, Wageningen University
In February 2022, a war began between Russia and Ukraine. On paper, the odds were lopsided. Russia had the second most powerful military in the wo… Read More
2023-06-10 12:00
Author: Andrew Blakers, ANU
To achieve its 2050 carbon neutrality commitment, Japan must eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, as they comprise nearly all of its emissions. F… Read More
2023-06-10 00:00
Author: Yuri Okina, Japan Research Institute
In an interim report released in May 2023, the Japanese government’s expert panel on foreign worker integration recommended abolishing the… Read More
2023-06-09 12:00
Author: Rubiat Saimum, BSMR Maritime University
In April 2023, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released its inaugural official document on the Indo-Pacific, detailing gu… Read More
2023-06-09 00:00
Author: Kyuseok Kim (Mick), Korea University
South Korean higher education is in a state of flux in 2023. The administration of President Yoon Suk-Yeol has recently initiated a national mast… Read More
2023-06-08 12:00
Author: Xiaoli Guo, ANU
The Russia–Ukraine conflict is like a complex and multi-dimensional chess game, and China’s emergence as a potential peacemaker has incited much debate. C… Read More
2023-06-08 00:15
Author: Imtiaz Gul, Islamabad
Pakistan’s is witnessing yet another stand-off between former prime minister Imran Khan and sections of the senior judiciary on one hand, and the politica… Read More
2023-06-07 12:00
Author: Donald R Rothwell, ANU
Australia’s AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines will enjoy the freedom of navigation beyond Australian waters and freely be able to undertake Indo-Pacific p… Read More
2023-06-07 00:00
Author: Donald R Rothwell, ANU
A legal foundation for AUKUS is the freedom of navigation. This raises some fundamental issues under the international law of the sea, which have mostly been s… Read More
2023-06-06 12:00
Author: Surajit Mazumdar, JNU
India’s most recent corporate scandal has engulfed the Adani Group. Investment research firm Hindenburg Research accused Adani Group of stock manipulation… Read More
2023-06-06 00:00
Authors: Jenny Balboa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and Hosei University, and Shinji Takenaka, Japan Center for Economic Research
Despite careful words from Philippine officials, the… Read More
2023-06-05 12:00
Author: Natasha Hamilton-Hart, University of Auckland
Assessments of Southeast Asia’s economic outlook published by the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 20… Read More
2023-06-05 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Today the global trade system faces three systemic challenges. None are new, but strategic competition between China and the United States has brought a dangerou… Read More
2023-06-04 12:00
Author: Gary Clyde Hufbauer, PIIE
Speaking at the Brookings Institution in April 2023, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared national security and industrial policy as the guid… Read More
2023-06-04 00:00
Author: David Dollar, Brookings Institution
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently came to the Brookings Institution to deliver a speech presenting the Biden administration&rsqu&hell…Read More
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