2022-07-30 12:00
Author: Salvador Santino F Regilme Jr, Leiden University.
Alongside the global decline of democratisation, the spread of authoritarianism and deterioration of human rights in Southeast Asia… Read More
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East Asia Forum Blog
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Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
2022-07-30 00:00
Author: Ryosuke Hanada, Macquarie University
Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has promised to ‘substantially increase’ Japan’s defence budget by the end of 2022. While some obs… Read More
2022-07-29 12:00
Author: Fran Martin, University of Melbourne
In recent years, the Western media has depicted Chinese international students as either a worrisome source of political influence or an economic… Read More
2022-07-29 00:00
Author: Passant Mamdouh Ridwan, Fudan University
The introduction of the Health Silk Road (HSR) and Digital Silk Road (DSR) in 2015 as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) shows the ex… Read More
2022-07-28 12:00
Author: I Gusti Bagus Dharma Agastia, President University
Three years after its formulation, progress on fulfilling the objectives set out by the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) re… Read More
2022-07-28 00:00
Author: Melissa Conley Tyler, AP4D and Alexandre Dayant, Lowy Institute
Investment in Pacific infrastructure has become an area of geopolitical competition. The landscape includes multilater… Read More
2022-07-27 12:00
Author: Kazuhiko Togo, University of Shizuoka
The assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe on 8 July 2022 was a shock for Japan, but the longest-tenured head of government after WWI… Read More
2022-07-27 00:00
Author: Yu Sheng, Peking University
China has made great efforts to meet increasing domestic food demand over the past four decades. From 1978–2021, China’s real agricultural out… Read More
2022-07-26 12:00
Author: Henry Gao, Singapore Management University
It has become more commonplace for trade agreements in the Asia Pacific to include a variety of digital trade provisions. To understand the… Read More
2022-07-26 00:00
Author: Yu Yongding, CASS
China’s GDP growth rate has been falling since the first quarter of 2010. After more than 40 years of breathtaking growth, it is not surprising that China&rsq&hell…Read More
2022-07-25 12:00
Author: Kishore Mahbubani, Asia Research Institute, NUS
Populations in Western countries are angry. Western elites, who are supposed to lead their societies in the right direction, are inste… Read More
2022-07-25 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Among the few rock-solid rules of international politics is the principle that when the voters are in the presidential swimming pool, it’s time for a chang… Read More
2022-07-24 12:00
Author: Neil DeVotta, Wake Forest University
On 20 July 2022, Sri Lanka’s parliament voted to make Ranil Wickremasinghe the country’s eighth Executive President until November 20… Read More
2022-07-24 00:00
Author: Chulanee Attanayake, NUS
Once the heroes of Sri Lanka who defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Rajapaksa regime ended with former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigning… Read More
2022-07-23 12:00
Author: Martin Miszerak, Renmin University
In May 2022, China’s Vice Premier Liu He signalled the government’s intention to end its ‘regulatory rectification’ campaig… Read More
2022-07-23 00:00
Authors: Christina Dasom Song and Yves Tiberghien, UBC
South Korea’s new President, Yoon Suk-yeol, has broken from his predecessor’s cautious balancing of Seoul’s trade rel… Read More
2022-07-22 12:00
Author: Seth Hays, International Trademark Association
Trade in counterfeit goods is approximately 2.5 per cent of global trade (US$461 billion) — and over 80 per cent of these counter… Read More
2022-07-22 00:00
Author: Riyani Sidek, GAIA
Public support for the government during a crisis gives political leaders the freedom and resources to implement life-saving measures — particularly against… Read More
2022-07-21 12:00
Author: Orkhon Gantogtokh, University of British Columbia
In 2019, Mongolia ranked 102 out of 141 countries in the Global Competitiveness Report. Its areas of weakness included the prominenc… Read More
2022-07-21 00:00
Authors: Minquan Liu, Peking University and Yuming Cui, HITSZ
As the largest goods trading nation and the second-largest economy in the world, it is not surprising that China’s recent… Read More
2022-07-20 12:00
Author: Manoj Joshi, ORF
Despite being knocked off its feet by the collapse of the Ghani government of Afghanistan in mid-August 2021, New Delhi has quickly re-established its presence in th… Read More
2022-07-20 00:00
Author: Shafiah F Muhibat, CSIS
What is the future of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP)? Nearly three years after its finalisation, there have been hardly any efforts to operation… Read More
2022-07-19 12:00
Author: Ganeshan Wignaraja, NUS
Sri Lanka’s pre-emptive default on its foreign debt obligations in mid-April 2022 and recently resigned president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s flight from… Read More
2022-07-19 00:00
Author: Sokvy Rim, The Thinker Cambodia
The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) achieved a landslide victory in the commune elections in June 2022, gaining 80 per cent of the 11,622 commune… Read More
2022-07-18 12:00
Author: Kristi Govella, German Marshall Fund
2022 was expected to be a defining year for Japanese security policy even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Public debates and internal neg… Read More
2022-07-18 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
On 8 July 2022, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down while giving a campaign speech in support of candidates for the 10 July upper house ele… Read More
2022-07-17 12:00
Authors: Fuma Aoki and Yves Tiberghien, UBC
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s initial easing of COVID-19 restrictions was dramatically reversed following the arrival of Omicron i… Read More
2022-07-17 00:00
Author: Yusaku Yoshikawa, JIN Corporation
On 10 June 2022, Japan finally started allowing international tourists into the country for the first time in two years after the COVID-19 pandemic… Read More
2022-07-16 12:00
Author: Dushni Weerakoon, IPS
Sri Lanka’s slide into political instability since April 2022 culminated in the resignation of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa following public protes… Read More
2022-07-16 00:00
Authors: Simrit Kaur and Harpreet Kaur, University of Delhi
Heatwaves in India have become more frequent, prolonged, intense and geographically spread-out. Twelve of the country’s warm… Read More
2022-07-15 12:00
Author: Mathis Lohatepanont, University of Michigan
On 1 June 2022, Chadchart Sittipunt officially assumed office as Governor of Bangkok. In doing so, he became the first figure identified w… Read More
2022-07-15 00:00
Authors: Made Anthony Iswara, Fauzan Kemal Musthofa and Fitri Ayunisa, SMERU Research Institute
What’s cooking in 2022? In Indonesia, not oil. The world’s largest palm oil produc… Read More
2022-07-14 12:00
Author: Florentine Koppenborg, Technical University of Munich
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shocked global energy markets and caused rising fuel prices. Japanese Prime Minister Fumi… Read More
2022-07-14 00:00
Author: Rumi Aoyama, Waseda University
The Indo-Pacific Framework for Economic Prosperity (IPEF) was launched in May 2022 during US President Joe Biden’s first visit to Asia. Of the 13… Read More
2022-07-13 12:00
Author: Brad Glosserman, Tama University
In May 2022, Japan’s National Diet passed its long-anticipated economic security bill. The legislation reflects growing concern about the vulne… Read More
2022-07-13 00:00
Author: Poh Lin Tan, NUS
In early 2023, Singaporean women aged 21–35 will be given the option to freeze their eggs under the Healthcare Services Act. These frozen eggs can be later use… Read More
2022-07-12 12:00
Authors: Xunpeng Shi, UTS, Qinhua Xu, Renmin University of China and Zha Daojiong, Peking University
Despite the Labor Party’s recent federal election victory, challenges in the Austra… Read More
2022-07-12 07:00
Author: Aurelia George Mulgan, UNSW Canberra
Tributes have been flowing for former Japanese prime Minister Shinzo Abe who was assassinated on 8 July. He is being remembered for his many poli… Read More
2022-07-12 00:00
Author: Sayuri Shirai, Keio University
Like many other central banks, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has conducted Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) experiments since 2021 to test the technical… Read More
2022-07-11 12:00
Author: Seungjoo Lee, Chung-Ang University
Strategic competition between the United States and China has dramatically revealed the vulnerabilities of the ideological and institutional founda… Read More
2022-07-11 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Global uncertainties have given birth to pronouncements that range from nonsense to seriously dangerous such as that the WTO is dead and that globalisation has r… Read More
2022-07-10 12:00
Author: Bernard Hoekman, European University Institute
After two COVID-19-related postponements, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) 12th ministerial conference (MC12) was held in Geneva from… Read More
2022-07-10 00:00
Author: Ken Heydon, LSE
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says the measures agreed upon at the 12th WTO ministerial conference (MC12) on 12 June ‘will… Read More
2022-07-09 12:00
Authors: Qingjiang Kong, China University of Political Science and Law and Weihuan Zhou, UNSW
China’s zero-COVID-19 policy has had profound impacts on global supply chains due to the l… Read More
2022-07-09 05:00
Author: Cheng Wei Swee, AlphaBeta
Asia’s digital economy has grown significantly in recent years, driven by factors such as national digitalisation efforts and COVID-19-induced changes… Read More
2022-07-09 00:00
Authors: Denghua Zhang, ANU and Michael O’Keefe, La Trobe University
The Pacific islands are receiving more attention from other countries, with high-level delegations from the United… Read More
2022-07-08 12:00
Author: Rosemary Foot, Oxford
The first visit to China in 17 years by a United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has angered many, perplexed some and pleased Beijing. The dismay der… Read More
2022-07-08 05:00
Author: Pindar Wong, VeriFi Ltd
Manufacturers in East Asia now have the option to settle trade under three major trade frameworks: the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the… Read More
2022-07-08 00:00
Author: Rudabeh Shahid, Atlantic Council’s South Asia Centre
Bangladesh continues to struggle with the forced migration of Rohingyas from Myanmar. The wages of daily wage labourers hav… Read More
2022-07-07 12:00
Author: Terence C Cheng, Harvard University
The adoption of digital technologies in health care has vastly accelerated over the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic saw health care provid… Read More
2022-07-07 05:00
Author: Yoonee Jeong, Asian Development Bank
The Asia Pacific is both hyper-connected and under-connected. While the region hosts leaders in 5G and fibre rollouts, many developing countries… Read More
2022-07-07 00:00
Author: Iain Watson, Ajou University
In 2021, the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) reported that its member states’ official development assistance (ODA) amounted to… Read More
2022-07-06 12:00
Author: Ngeow Chow Bing, University of Malaya
Hainan has an important security function in the South China Sea — it is the province in which Sansha city claims to administer the disput… Read More
2022-07-06 05:00
Author: Nina Xiang, China Money Network
The metaverse — a concept that initially appeared in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash — has been described as… Read More
2022-07-06 00:00
Author: Sandra Seno-Alday, University of Sydney
In June 2022, the Philippines will sweep the Marcos family back into power after they were unceremoniously ousted 36 years ago. Marcos Junior… Read More
2022-07-05 12:00
Authors: Lisa Toohey, University of Newcastle, Markus Wagner, University of Wollongong and Weihuan Zhou, UNSW
The Australia–China relationship is in need of a reset, especially on the… Read More
2022-07-05 05:00
Author: Milton Mueller, Georgia Institute of Technology
Is there an Asian digital regime? There was, though it was closer to a global regime based on neoliberal principles of free trade and… Read More
2022-07-05 00:00
Author: Choong Yong Ahn, Chung-Ang University
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol set the tone of South Korea’s new economic diplomacy by declaring he would ‘build a nation that… Read More
2022-07-04 12:20
Author: Zongyuan Zoe Liu, CFR
When the inaugural BRIC summit took place in 2009, it was a moment of relative triumph for its members. While the West dealt with the worst financial crisis sin… Read More
2022-07-04 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
It is hard to imagine a more thorough stress test for globalisation than the double whammy of a once-in-a-century global pandemic followed in short order by a la… Read More
2022-07-03 12:00
Author: Jayant Menon, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
The resilience of global supply chains in manufacturing has been under scrutiny following COVID-19 and geopolitical shocks. Global supply ch… Read More
2022-07-03 03:23
Author: Yasuyuki Todo, Waseda University
Global supply chains are being reorganised as Western countries attempt to decouple from the Chinese economy and firms are increasingly aware of the… Read More
2022-07-02 12:00
Authors: Helani Galpaya and Ramathi Bandaranayake, LIRNEasia
Having stagnated for years, the percentage of South Asians who have used the internet has finally reached 50 per cent. In South A… Read More
2022-07-02 00:00
Author: Younus Mushtaq Ahmed, University of British Columbia
In 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India had achieved Open Defecation Free (ODF) status after his govern… Read More
2022-07-01 12:00
Author: Ke Li, City University of New York
Weeks into 2022, a short video showing a Chinese woman with her neck chained to a village hut in the city of Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province in freezing t… Read More
2022-07-01 00:00
Author: Giulia Ajmone Marsan, ERIA
The economic dynamism of ASEAN is well-known and in recent years the region has seen the emergence of some of the fastest growing digital economies in the… Read More
2022-06-30 12:00
Author: James Laurenceson, UTS
Whether fully intended or not, Australian trade policy is embracing a theatrical element that serves to lock in the country’s long-term interests. Canber… Read More
2022-06-30 00:00
Authors: Aidan Arasasingham and Emily Benson, CSIS
On 23 May 2022, US President Joe Biden and 12 regional counterparts officially launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity… Read More
2022-06-29 12:00
Authors: Hannah Elyse Sworn and Manoj Harjani, NTU
Intellectual property (IP) has long been a sore point in relations between Washington and Beijing. US officials have repeatedly targeted Ch… Read More
2022-06-29 00:00
Author: Christoph Nedopil Wang, Fudan University
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Asia are in a unique position to take a leading role to shift economic activity from polluting to green. Ye… Read More
2022-06-28 12:00
Author: Jorrit Gosens, ANU
Despite big announcements on climate ambitions from major emitters and a pandemic-induced economic slump, prices for thermal coal spiked to above US$400 per ton in… Read More
2022-06-28 00:00
Author: Emma Dalton, RMIT
Gender inequality is a stubbornly entrenched problem for Japan. It ranked 120 out of 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index (GGI)… Read More
2022-06-27 12:00
Authors: Peter Drysdale and Shiro Armstrong
What might become the new normal in Australia’s relationship with China is a major question for Australia’s new Albanese government. T… Read More
2022-06-27 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Japan is shrinking and ageing. The population fell by 618,000 last year and Japan’s society is the oldest in the world with almost 30 per cent of the popul… Read More
2022-06-26 12:00
Author: Richard Katz, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
For six long months, the Kishida administration, aided by outside advisors from universities and new companies, toi… Read More
2022-06-26 00:00
Author: Toshiya Takahashi, Shoin University
While the Japanese media were occupied by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Japan’s economic security bill passed without strong opposition i… Read More
2022-06-25 12:00
Authors: Raissa Richka Jonah and Trigaya Ahimsa, Universitas Indonesia
In line with the Indonesian government’s goal to build a strong financial sector, the Indonesian Financial Servic… Read More
2022-06-25 00:00
Author: Sarah Teo, Nanyang Technological University
With their fourth leaders’ meeting in May 2022, the Quad has come a long way since senior officials from Australia, India, Japan and… Read More
2022-06-24 12:00
Author: Meng Ye, University of Tübingen
Amid the global ‘democratic recession’ and new trend of ‘autocratic legalism’, Xi Jinping’s China is a prime exampl… Read More
2022-06-24 00:00
Author: Tomohiko Satake, NIDS
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Japan has actively supported the resistance through the provision of non-lethal defence equipment, emergency h… Read More
2022-06-23 12:00
Author: Doug Fuller, City University of Hong Kong
More than a year into the Biden administration, many are disappointed by its China tech policy. The China hawks are disappointed by the lack… Read More
2022-06-23 00:00
Author: Kuyoun Chung, Kangwon National University
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue met in Tokyo late last month to affirm the continued cooperation between the United States, Australia, J… Read More
2022-06-22 12:00
Author: Lurong Chen, ERIA
Digitalisation — the use of digital technologies and digital-enabled solutions in socio-economic activities — has triggered global changes that are wide… Read More
2022-06-22 00:00
Author: Brian Eyler, Stimson Center
The US–ASEAN Special Summit on 12–13 May 2022 was the first time ASEAN leaders have ever met the US president at the White House. Its outcomes… Read More
2022-06-21 12:00
Author: Yoshie Tomozumi Nakamura, GWU
Gender inequality and the underutilisation of women’s labour continues to be a significant issue in Japanese society. Japan ranked 139 among 156 c… Read More
2022-06-21 00:00
Author: Noah Kittner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
With global concerns rising over climate change and carbon lock-in, Southeast Asia has a unique opportunity to advance its e… Read More
2022-06-20 12:00
Author: Naohiro Yashiro, Showa Women’s University
Japan’s most recent regulatory reform plan is digitalisation — a crucial part of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s &lsq&hell…Read More
2022-06-20 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
The internet once promised a world of seamless connectivity for anyone with access to a digital device. As connectivity costs fell, the workplace became mobile… Read More
2022-06-19 12:00
Author: Anupam Chander, Georgetown University
Are the Himalayas too high for the internet to pass? The prospect of an Asian digital single market seems remote, especially when India and Chin… Read More
2022-06-18 12:00
Author: David Simon, Yale University
Earlier this year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the Biden administration’s recognition of Rohingya persecution in Myanmar —… Read More
2022-06-18 00:00
Author: Hipolitus Wangge, ANU
Prime Minister James Marape visited Jakarta at the invitation of Indonesian President Joko Widodo in March 2022 — a few months ahead of PNG’s nation… Read More
2022-06-17 12:00
Authors: Julio S Amador III and Lisa Marie Palma, FACTS Asia Inc
The recent high-level US–ASEAN Summit has shown that, despite challenges, there is room for productive engagement betwe… Read More
2022-06-17 00:00
Author: Tharishini Krishnan, National Defence University Malaysia
The ‘maritime security’ buzzphrase emerged in the late 1990s following the establishment of the ASEAN Centre for… Read More
2022-06-16 12:00
Author: Debashis Chakraborty, IIFT
In a surprise move, India banned wheat exports on 13 May 2022, in order to ‘manage the overall food security of the country and to support other vuln… Read More
2022-06-16 00:00
Author: Vasily Kashin, Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
The conflict in Ukraine will have major strategic consequences for Chinese foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific. It will promote the… Read More
2022-06-15 12:00
Authors: William Choong and Sharon Seah, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
The wilderness years of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad), after its initial inception during the 2004 Asian… Read More
2022-06-15 00:00
Author: Abdul Rahman Yaacob, ANU
As the Australian Labor Party forms its foreign and defence policies after its recent election victory, resetting Australia’s engagement with Southeast… Read More
2022-06-14 12:00
Author: Neil DeVotta, Wake Forest University
When Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa banned chemical fertiliser, insecticides and herbicides in May 2021, protesters blamed the governmen… Read More
2022-06-14 00:00
Author: Sheryn Lee, Swedish Defence University
On the 45th anniversary of official US–ASEAN ties, US President Joe Biden hosted the leaders of Southeast Asian nations in May 2022 for a… Read More
2022-06-13 12:00
Author: Daniel Sneider, Stanford University
The goals of US President Joe Biden’s recent trip to Japan and South Korea were simple — to shore up the alliance system and make clea… Read More
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