2022-11-14 11:00
Author: Kingsley Edney, University of Leeds
When China’s infamous list of 14 grievances with Australia was leaked in 2018, commentators noted that certain complaints — including… Read More
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Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
2022-11-14 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Next Saturday Malaysia’s 21-million strong electorate — recently enlarged by more than 6 million people after the lowering of the voting age from 21… Read More
2022-11-13 11:00
Author: William Case, Nottingham University Malaysia
Malaysians go to the polls on 19 November 2022. This general election is the 15th that the country has held since independence, a rare re… Read More
2022-11-12 11:00
Author: Tawanda Sachikonye, University of Cape Town
Taiwan is widely renowned as one of the world’s most advanced and highly developed economies. But such remarkable success for a reso… Read More
2022-11-12 00:35
Author: Rainer Heufers, CIPS
Indonesian lawmakers have been alarmed by the freedom of data flows and opinions in the quickly emerging digital sphere. They issued a law on electronic informat… Read More
2022-11-11 11:00
Author: Claude Rakisits, ANU
Pakistan has been urging the international community, including the United States, to comprehensively engage with the Taliban. But Islamabad’s true interes… Read More
2022-11-10 23:00
Author: Naohiro Yashiro, Showa Women’s University
The decline and ageing of the Japanese population over the last 20 years have been severe. According to the Japanese National Census… Read More
2022-11-10 11:00
Author: Lara Greaves, University of Auckland
Images in 2018 of New Zealand’s pregnant Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arriving at Buckingham Palace, adorned in a kahu huruhuru (Māor… Read More
2022-11-09 23:00
Author: Sarah Williams, UNSW
On 22 September 2022, the Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) delivered a summary judgment in Case 002/02. The E… Read More
2022-11-09 11:00
Author: Takeshi Tashiro, Peterson Institute for International Economics
A peculiar characteristic of the Japanese economy is continued low inflation despite the current global inflationary p… Read More
2022-11-08 23:00
Author: Abdul Rahman Yaacob, ANU
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a July 2022 speech that Australia needed to ‘attune itself to the concerns of the Indo-Pacific regio… Read More
2022-11-08 11:00
Author: Hasan Alhasan, IISS
When Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad circulated on social media in June 2022, they pr… Read More
2022-11-07 23:00
Author: Michael G Plummer, JHU
The US dollar is on a tear. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis’s US Dollar Index, it has risen by approximately 13 per cent in 2022 agains… Read More
2022-11-07 11:00
Authors: Donald R Rothwell, ANU and Mai Sato, Monash University
Throughout 2022, Australia–Japan military cooperation has been the subject of renewed focus. On 22 October, during Japan… Read More
2022-11-07 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
The world’s two largest powers are on a collision course. Strategic competition between the United States and China is ratcheting up, driven by both countr… Read More
2022-11-06 11:00
Author: Qingguo Jia, Stanford University
Today the possibility of consolidating an inclusive regional architecture for comprehensive security in the Asia Pacific has become almost inconceiva… Read More
2022-11-05 11:00
Author: Narayanan Ganesan, Hiroshima City University
Myanmar’s coup leader and de facto head of state, General Min Aung Hlaing, has paid two visits to Russia in 2022. Such visits are t… Read More
2022-11-04 23:00
Authors: Ajay Mahal and Sumit Kane, University of Melbourne
The Control of Tobacco Products and Smoking Bill 2022 currently under parliamentary examination marks a dramatic change in Malaysi… Read More
2022-11-04 11:00
Author: Anthony V Rinna, Sino-NK
The dissonance between the two conflict-ridden ends of Russia’s periphery continues to shrink as the situation in Ukraine exerts an increasing influenc… Read More
2022-11-03 23:00
Author: Mark van Loon, Seoul
Sarawak’s autonomy has been controversial from the start. One of the four founding states of Malaysia, Sarawak was granted freedom to self-govern by the Br… Read More
2022-11-03 11:00
Author: Richard Shaw, Massey University
Following her attendance at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, flew to New York, where she attende… Read More
2022-11-02 23:00
Author: Claudia Chia Yi En, NUS
The signing of a provisional deal between Russia and the Taliban in September 2022 marks the Taliban’s first known major international economic deal. Bu… Read More
2022-11-02 11:00
Authors: Brittany Morreale, USAF and Purnendra Jain, NUS
The African continent has emerged as a new geostrategic playground for Asian aid donors. The Forum on China–Africa Cooperation… Read More
2022-11-01 23:00
Author: Gabriele Vogt and Sian Qin, LMU Munich
On 22 September 2022, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivered a speech at the New York Stock Exchange declaring that Japan will relax b… Read More
2022-10-31 11:00
Author: Melissa Conley Tyler, AP4D
This week, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, will be visiting Thailand. 2022 marks the 70th anniversary of Australia–Thailand rela… Read More
2022-10-31 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
As if the stakes in the ongoing US–China geopolitical competition weren’t high enough already, on 7 October the United States banned the transfer of… Read More
2022-10-30 11:00
Author: Paul Heer, CFTNI
The Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, released in February 2022, affirms that the United States will work through ‘a latticework of strong an… Read More
2022-10-29 11:00
Author: Soyoung Kim, Nanyang Technological University
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s tendency to avoid uncomfortable questions and attack specific media outlets undermine his p… Read More
2022-10-28 23:00
Author: Peter Layton, Griffith University
In October 2022, India abstained from voting in a UN Security Council draft resolution against Russia’s annexation of areas of Ukrainian terri… Read More
2022-10-28 11:00
Authors: Emily Benson and Aidan Arasasingham, CSIS
Fourteen countries, hosted by the United States, convened in Los Angeles in September 2022 for a ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pacific Ec… Read More
2022-10-27 23:00
Author: Yvette To, CityU
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and President Joe Biden’s pledge that the United States would defend the island have e… Read More
2022-10-27 11:00
Author: Artyom Lukin, Far Eastern Federal University
Moscow’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine has ushered in a new geopolitical reality. The Kremlin and the Democra… Read More
2022-10-26 23:00
Author: Yao-Yuan Yeh, University of St Thomas
The ‘lying flat’ or tang ping movement is a phenomenon that emerged in China in 2021. It describes the generations born in the late… Read More
2022-10-26 11:00
Author: Noriko Tsuya, Keio University
After hovering around zero growth in the late 2000s, Japan’s population has been shrinking since 2010, with the decline accelerating in recent yea… Read More
2022-10-25 23:00
Author: Eric Lai, Georgetown University
On 26 September 2022, a university professor, two former lawmakers, a Cantopop singer and a Catholic cardinal were charged by the Hong Kong government… Read More
2022-10-25 11:00
Author: Sourabh Gupta, ICAS
Almost five years to the day that he inaugurated a ‘new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics’, General Secretary Xi Jinping re… Read More
2022-10-24 23:00
Author: Suiwah Leung, ANU
Vietnam currently benefits from China’s COVID-19 lockdowns and the geopolitical tensions between the United States and China — especially in electronics… Read More
2022-10-24 11:00
Author: Joel Atkinson, HUFS
In his recent visit to Taipei, Tuvalu’s new Prime Minister Kausea Natano declared that Tuvalu would ‘continue to stand firm in [its] commitment to rem… Read More
2022-10-24 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
When we think of countries that risk ‘growing old before they grow rich’, we usually think of China. But an equally stark illustration of the challen… Read More
2022-10-23 11:00
Author: Richard Yarrow, Harvard University and ANU
Southeast Asia’s second largest and once one of its most dynamic economies is struggling under the weight of an ageing population, a… Read More
2022-10-22 11:00
Author: Sulistiyo Aridyono, ANU
Indonesian export and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have slowed over the last two decades despite the robust performance of neighbouring Southeast A… Read More
2022-10-21 23:00
Author: Krisna Gupta, CIPS
Indonesia received a visit from some of the managers of Australia’s largest superannuation funds in August 2022. The target of the visit was the Indonesia In… Read More
2022-10-21 11:00
Author: Gloria Lai, IDPC
In October 2022, Singapore reportedly executed one person, bringing the total number of people executed in the city-state between March–October 2022 to 11. Whi… Read More
2022-10-21 01:54
Author: James Curran, University of Sydney
Within days of each other, revealing portraits of the United States and China have been unveiled. In Washington, the Biden administration released… Read More
2022-10-20 23:00
Author: Abul Rizvi, University of Melbourne
The Albanese government’s announcement that it will increase the intake of permanent migrants from 160,000 to 195,000 over 2022–23 sho… Read More
2022-10-20 11:00
Author: Yoshihide Sakurai, Hokkaido University
Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead on 8 July 2022 in Nara Prefecture while giving a campaign speech in support of a Libera… Read More
2022-10-19 23:00
Author: Nishank Motwani, Harvard University
The Taliban recaptured power in 2021 and established a monopoly on violence. Although the Taliban have quashed competition and projected themselve… Read More
2022-10-19 11:00
Authors: Charlie Barnes, ANU and Rania Teguh, CSIS Indonesia
On 3 September 2022, Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo announced a cut to the government’s fuel subsidy… Read More
2022-10-18 23:00
Author: John Calabrese, American University
China’s engagement with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is driven by the need to maintain access to vital energy supplies. Beijing i… Read More
2022-10-18 11:00
Authors: Guanie Lim, GRIPS and Chengwei Xu, NTU
In late August 2022, news broke that Apple was in talks to manufacture its famed Apple Watches and MacBooks in Vietnam for the first time. Som… Read More
2022-10-17 23:00
Author: Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Bruegel
Chinese real estate developers are desperate to recover from the prolonged lockdowns driven by China’s zero-COVID-19 policy. But the slowdown in… Read More
2022-10-17 11:00
Author: Richard Pomfret, University of Adelaide
On 15–16 September 2022, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its 22nd Annual summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Unlike previo… Read More
2022-10-17 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
The 20th National Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) commenced on 16 October and will run for seven days. The Congress takes place every five ye… Read More
2022-10-15 23:00
Author: Carl Minzner, Council on Foreign Relations
Opening on 16 October 2022, China’s 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is virtually certain to see general secreta… Read More
2022-10-15 11:00
Author: Soumya Bhowmick, ORF
There is no doubt that International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans often come with a set of conditionalities that most countries find unfavourable to implement. With… Read More
2022-10-14 23:00
Author: Basil C. Bitas, Singapore
The key geopolitical protagonists in Ukraine are likely to draw disparate conclusions from the conflict. That is true whether their participation entails di… Read More
2022-10-14 11:00
Author: Davis Florick, Missouri State University
For nearly four decades the United States has led the global effort to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. But North Korea… Read More
2022-10-13 23:00
Author: Debby Chan, CityU
Since the introduction of the national security law (NSL) in Hong Kong in July 2020, mass protests have evaporated, civil society has dissolved and elections have o… Read More
2022-10-13 11:00
Author: Bill Sharp, Honolulu
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen faces five security challenges that will test the depth of her political capital and possibly pit Taiwan’s military concer… Read More
2022-10-12 23:00
Author: Gabriela Bernal, UNKS
Moscow and Pyongyang are taking active steps to strengthen their alliance. The situation may look like a win–win for both sides, but North Korea has more… Read More
2022-10-12 11:00
Author: Chris Burgess, Tsuda University
From April to August 2020, Japan implemented a re-entry ban for all foreign nationals, including permanent residents, with some exceptions. This came… Read More
2022-10-11 23:00
Author: Henrietta McNeill, ANU
The Pacific’s vast oceans, unique geography and limited law enforcement resources make it difficult to monitor porous borders for transnational crime. Th… Read More
2022-10-11 11:00
Author: Hironori Sasada and Tadashi Iwami, Hokkaido University
Japan’s upper house election in July 2022 caught international attention when former prime minister Shinzo Abe was shot d… Read More
2022-10-10 23:00
Author: Aurelia George Mulgan, UNSW Canberra
Japan’s Fumio Kishida-led administration is now enduring a new low in public popularity. Support for the Kishida cabinet was polled at 29 p… Read More
2022-10-10 11:00
Author: Danilo Araña Arao, UP Diliman
Upon assuming the Philippines presidency on 30 June 2022, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr — the only son and namesake of the for… Read More
2022-10-10 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
The United States’ economic and military power, and its global political leadership, were indispensable ingredients for economic development and strategic… Read More
2022-10-09 11:00
Author: Iain Henry, ANU
During the Trump presidency, it was unsurprising that several US allies in Asia were concerned about the risk of abandonment — the possibility that Washington m… Read More
2022-10-08 11:00
Authors: Deasy Pane, Bappenas and Arianto Patunru, ANU
The rising interconnectedness of production centres around the world highlights the role of imported intermediate inputs in manufacturi… Read More
2022-10-07 23:00
Author: Fumiaki Kubo, University of Tokyo
While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shocked Japan, its seriousness was multiplied by China’s support for Russia. Facing this new reality… Read More
2022-10-07 11:00
Author: Gunther Schnabl, Leipzig University
At more than 145 yen per dollar, the Japanese yen has slipped to a 24-year low. After the Bank of Japan (BoJ) signalled further depreciation would… Read More
2022-10-06 23:00
Author: Mordechai Chaziza, Ashkelon Academic College
The US–China strategic rivalry extends to the struggle for control over the digital economy — particularly digital infrastruc… Read More
2022-10-06 11:00
Author: C. Randall Henning, American University
Southeast Asian economies, like emerging markets and developing countries globally, are anticipating a rocky financial transition out of the C… Read More
2022-10-05 23:24
Author: Björn Dressel, ANU
On 23 August 2022, Malaysia’s top court unanimously made Najib Razak the first former Malaysian prime minister to be jailed. It upheld his graft convict… Read More
2022-10-05 11:00
Author: Stephen Nagy, ICU Tokyo
As a ‘cold peace’ settles between Japan and China, both countries are working towards a pragmatic, if not awkward, coexistence. Okinawa will conti… Read More
2022-10-04 23:00
Authors: Juliette McIntyre and Adam Simpson, University of South Australia
Two genocide cases are before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as of October 2022. The first was brought by… Read More
2022-10-04 11:00
Author: Yunchen Tian, SMU
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently announced that will Japan drop its strict border policy on 11 October 2022. Alongside China, Japan has some of the world&rsquo&hell…Read More
2022-10-03 23:00
Author: Sung-Young Kim, Macquarie University
South Korea and Australia’s trade relationship is one of the most complementary in the world. Seoul is an exporter of high-tech manufacture… Read More
2022-10-03 11:00
Author: Richard Katz, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Global inflation, and the rising interest rates being used to counter it, are creating a big dilemma for Bank of Ja… Read More
2022-10-03 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
As the old aphorism goes, governments are terrible at picking winners, but losers are great at picking governments. It’s advice which many governments seem… Read More
2022-10-02 11:00
Author: Samuel Goodman, Washington DC
The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have limited the supply and increased the cost of semiconductors. One of the clearest impacts of the chi… Read More
2022-10-01 12:00
Author: Tim Summers, CUHK and Chatham House
While the campaign for the UK prime ministership was more about domestic issues than foreign policy, China still made fleeting appearances. Prime… Read More
2022-10-01 00:00
Author: Willem Thorbecke, RIETI
Japan has used monetary policy to stoke inflation since Shinzo Abe became prime minister in 2012. But as inflation exceeds 8 per cent in the United States and… Read More
2022-09-30 12:00
Author: Ernils Larsson, Uppsala University
The assassination of Japanese former prime minister Shinzo Abe on 8 July 2022 brought to light the role that religious organisations play in Japane… Read More
2022-09-30 00:00
Author: Gary Hawke, Wellington
Internal and external evaluations often differ in politics. Occasional appearances by political leaders overseas do not reflect the continual grind of local ch… Read More
2022-09-29 12:00
Author: Sayuri Shirai, Keio University
The Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) monetary policy framework has been characterised by yield curve control since 2016. That involves the stabilisation of… Read More
2022-09-29 00:00
Author: Mikael Gravers, Aarhus University
18 months after the Tatmadaw seized power, General Min Aung Hlaing and the junta are not inclined to negotiate with the National Unity Government (N… Read More
2022-09-28 12:00
Authors: Robyn Klingler-Vidra, KCL and Yu-Ching Kuo, Kaohsiung
The importance of semiconductors to economic security adorned newspaper headlines in 2022. As part of its technological competi… Read More
2022-09-28 00:00
Author: Ryo Sahashi, University of Tokyo
The globalised world is suffering and the liberal international order is at risk. The pandemic and US–China technology rivalry are eroding tran… Read More
2022-09-27 12:00
Author: Levi McLaughlin, NCSU
On 14 July 2022, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced plans to hold a state funeral for his predecessor Shinzo Abe, who was gunned down while campaig… Read More
2022-09-27 00:00
Authors: John Walsh, Krirk University, Trung Quang Nguyen and Burkhard Schrage, RMIT Vietnam
Foreign direct investment in Vietnam continues to increase, rising from US$11.57 billion in July… Read More
2022-09-26 12:00
Author: Jiro Yamaguchi, Hosei University
The assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has shed light on a concerning relationship between the Unification Church and the rul… Read More
2022-09-26 02:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
At times during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, it seemed that the Philippines’ foreign policy was to not have much of a policy at all.
After Duterte&r&hell…Read More
2022-09-25 12:00
Author: Luke Lischin, University of Toronto
After six years of uncertainty under former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, the election of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marco… Read More
2022-09-24 12:00
Author: Yoko Iwama, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
This year will be a watershed year in the 21st century. Russia’s integration into the liberal international order has… Read More
2022-09-24 00:00
Author: Marat Galimov, HSE
In 1999, amid ASEAN-related meetings in Manila, then Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean president Kim Dae-jung held… Read More
2022-09-23 12:00
Authors: Ken Jimbo and Bryan Tan, Keio University
In the 1970s, Japanese prime minister Masayoshi Ohira developed a concept of ‘comprehensive security’ that emphasised the need t… Read More
2022-09-23 00:00
Authors: Manita Raut and Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, ANU
The catchphrase ‘water is life’ took on a deeper meaning in 2022 as floods submerged two-thirds of Pakistan, affecting over 33 m… Read More
2022-09-22 12:00
Author: Aurelia George Mulgan, UNSW Canberra
In Japan, the Unification Church (UC) is a religious corporation known formally as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification and for… Read More
2022-09-22 00:00
Author: Deepa M Ollapally, GWU
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine coincided with a debate over whether to call US–China tensions ‘a new Cold War’ and a ‘no limits&rsq&hell…Read More
2022-09-21 12:00
Author: Ömer Faruk Yildiz, Anadolu Agency
After four years of a tiring judicial process, Malaysia’s Federal Court finally upheld the High Court’s decision to sentence former… Read More
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